r 


BERTRAM  SMITHS 
BOOK  STORE 

ie  PACIFIC  AVENWB 
BEALH    CAL.9&- 


tf|*  aVutftor  of  this  Volume. 


"A   DIPLOMAT'S    DIARY." 

i2mo.    Extra  Cloth.    $x.oo. 


"  One  of  its  best  qualities  is  the  dear,  incisive 
style,  full  of  nervous  strength,  and  indicating  a 
remarkably  energetic  force  in  the  imagination 
of  the  writer." — New  York  Tribune. 

"  The  words  are  apt,  the  sentences  short,  the 
characters  alive." — The  University  Magazine. 

"  We  don't  remember  a  finer  bit  of  drawing 
than  the  character  of  Miss  Acton." — Morning 
Telegraph,  New  London. 

"  The  writer  understands  the  social  life  of  to- 
day in  all  its  complexity, — has  lived  in  it,  been 
of  it."— New  York  World. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  will  be  sent,  post- 
paid, on  receipt  of  price. 

J.  B.  UPPINCOTT  COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


SUCCESSFUL   MAN 


BY 

JULIEN  GORDON 

AUTHOR  OF  "A  DIPLOMAT'S  DIAKT,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 
1891 


Copyright,  1890,  by  THE  COSMOPOLITAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


Copyright,  1890,  by  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPAST. 


I  DEDICATE  THIS  STORY 

TO 

TITUS    MUNSON    COAN, 

WHOSE   ENCOURAGEMENT  OF   MY   LITERARY 
EFFORTS   I   THUS 

GBATEFULLY  ACKNOWLEDGE. 


2061837 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  homestead  stood  under  the  hill  close 
to  the  main  road  which  led  into  the  town.  It 
could  hot  be  termed  a  pretty  house,  nor  was  it 
even  solid  or  imposing.  It  was  big  and  mere- 
tricious, in  that  pretentious  villa  style  which 
was  the  rage  forty  years  ago,  when  the  colo- 
nial architecture  had  gone  out  of  fashion  and 
Queen  Anne  had  not  yet  been  awakened; 
there  were  wood  turrets  which  were  meaning- 
less, verandas  which  looked  out  on  nothing 
in  particular,  and  porches  which  led  nowhere. 
Hundreds  of  such  houses  disfigure  nature  all 
over  the  United  States.  Where,  through 
fidelity  or  economy,  their  owners  have  not 
tampered  with  them,  they  are  hopeless ;  they 
are  hideous  when  they  are  embellished.  One 

7 


8  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

thing,  indeed,  can  be  said  in  their  favor :  they 
have  usually  high  ceilings,  wide  doors,  and 
generous  windows  admitting  plenty  of  light 
and  air,  and  their  rooms  are  often  large  and 
sweetly  cool.  Queen  Anne  evidently  laid  no 
stress  on  "  stuffiness ;"  she  was  not  accustomed 
to  America  in  August. 

Of  this  particular  structure  it  might  be  said 
that  the  inside  was  pleasant  enough ;  not  ex- 
actly elegant  or  even  cosey,  but  fresh,  whole- 
some, and,  on  the  whole,  comfortable.  The 
grounds  which  environed  it  and  where  the 
children  played — there  were  about  twenty 
acres  counting  the  adjacent  meadow — were 
really  quite  charming.  There  was  soft  mossy 
turf,  plenty  of  shade,  a  variety  of  fine  thrifty 
old  trees,  and  a  general  aspect  of  careful  gar- 
dening. The  fences  were  excellent,  and  the 
orchard  which  lay  behind  the  house  was  full 
of  fruit.  A  profusion  of  flowers  bloomed  on 
each  side  of  the  garden-paths.  There  was 
nothing  so  picturesque  as  a  barn-yard,  al- 
though invisible  hens  proclaimed  themselves 
and  three  Holsteins  browsed  in  the  pasture  lot. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  9 

The  stables  were  more  modern  than  the 
house  and  not  less  unsightly,  and  there  was 
more  than  a  suspicion  of  new  paint  about 
them.  The  trees,  however,  cast  over  them  a 
mantle  of  charitable  shade,  and  the  four  well- 
fed  horses  had  enough  room.  All  was  cheer- 
ful and  respectable,  with  a  look  of  middle- 
class  affluence  and  entirely  well-to-do.  The 
house  was  an  object  of  interest  to  every 
passer-by,  and  the  hackmen  who  carried  stran- 
gers up  Harbor  Hill  to  see  the  view  always 
pulled  up  a  minute  and  showed  the  place  with 
pride,  for  it  was  the  habitation  of  the  "  great 
man"  of  the  town.  Some  predicted  that  he 
would  become  the  great  man  of  the  State, 
perhaps  one  day  of  the  nation ;  who  could 
tell  ?  The  hack-driver  who  was  possessed  of 
more  imagination  than  his  colleagues  enlarged 
upon  his  theme,  and  called  the  great  man  a 
great  orator,  usually  pronouncing  the  word 
"  oh-ra'tor." 

At  the  early  hour  when  my  story  opens, 
the  great  man's  wife  was  standing  in  one  of 
the  upper  rooms,  which  was  suffused  with 


10  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

summer  sunshine.  It  was  a  very  nice  room 
indeed,  so  she  thought,  when  her  hushand 
brought  her  to  their  home  twenty  years  before 
and  she  selected  the  room  for  her  own.  Here 
she  had  slept  and  worked,  suffered  and  en- 
joyed, laughed  and  cried ;  here  she  had  borne 
and  brought  up  her  children,  six  in  number. 
Her  domestic  life  had  known  but  few  inter- 
missions. Twice  six  months  in  Europe  and 
one  trip  to  the  West,  with  an  occasional  visit 
to  friends  in  the  country,  were  the  sum  of  her 
holidays ;  and  these  last  had  become  more  and 
more  rare  with  the  multiplying  ties  of  mater- 
nity, and  of  late  they  had  almost  entirely 
ceased. 

Mrs.  Lawton  had  never  been  fond  of  trav- 
elling ;  even  in  Europe  she  had  not  been  quite 
happy.  To  be  sure,  her  husband  had  on  both 
occasions  been  forced  by  business  claims  to 
return  without  her,  and  she  had  been  left  with 
young  children  on  her  hands  to  amuse  her- 
self as  best  she  might.  Her  talents  in  this 
direction  were  not  great.  She  would  have 
preferred  to  return  with  him,  but,  being  a 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  H 

poor  sailor,  she  thought  it  better  for  her  health 
to  take  a  few  more  weeks  before  these  trying 
voyages.  She  looked  back  to  these  tours  with 
sufficient  pleasure,  as  we  do  on  our  early  edu- 
cation, for  she  was  intelligent  enough  to  rel- 
ish a  mild  form  of  sight-seeing;  but  she 
had  never  got  at  the  heart  of  life  over  there, 
and  had  no  imperative  longing  to  repeat  the 
experiment. 

To  return  to  the  upper  chamber.  Mrs. 
Lawton  was  engaged  at  this  particular  mo- 
ment in  combing  out  her  eldest  girl's  hair. 
Very  lovely  hair  it  was.  Long,  fine,  light,  it 
almost  swept  the  floor  as  the  mother  wound  it 
lovingly  in  and  out  and  across  her  fingers. 

"How  nice  and  dry  it  is!"  she  said. 
"Light  hair  is  always  fluffier  than  black. 
Your  papa's  used  to  be  like  this.  It  is  a  pity 
he  has  grown  so  gray." 

"  Impending  cares  of  state,"  said  the  girl. 

"  I  suppose  we  must  hope  so,"  sighed  Mrs. 
Lawton,  "  but  it  is  very  upsetting." 

"  Cheer  up,  mammy.  You  know  you  will 
cry  your  eyes  out  if  he  is  defeated." 


12  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"I  don't  know  anything  of  the  kind. 
Your  mamma  is  not  very  ambitious." 

"  Well,  papa  is,  then ;  enough  for  the  whole 
family.  Kow,  dear,  that  will  do.  I  just  love 
to  have  you  brush  my  hair.  You  have  such 
a  sweet,  cunning  little  way.  When  I  have  a 
headache  it  is  a  sure  cure." 

So  saying,  Clemence  shook  her  mane  and 
rose  from  the  contemplation  of  herself  in  her 
mother's  dressing-table  mirror. 

She  was  a  fair  miss  of  sixteen,  well-made, 
healthy,  and  excessively  pretty,  with  that  in- 
describable sort  of  prettiness  that  is  made  up 
of  complexion,  beautiful  hair,  and.  youth.  She 
was  a  head  taller  than  her  mother,  who  was 
herself  not  undersized.  Between  them,  how- 
ever, there  was  little  or  no  resemblance. 

The  mother  was  of  medium  height,  in- 
clined to  plumpness,  with  agreeable  dark  eyes 
and  regular  features.  She  looked  like  a  very 
well-preserved  woman  of  forty,  and  was  so 
well  preserved  in  fact  that  one  wondered  why 
she  should  not  be  taken  to  be  younger. 
There  were  very  few  if  any  wrinkles  upon 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  13 

her  face.  Her  teeth  were  intact,  her  hair  was 
abundant,  and  her  voice  retained  some  of  its 
girlish  inflections.  There  had,  however,  been 
something  about  her  for  many  years  which 
people,  for  lack  of  a  better  term,  called  "  set- 
tled." 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  in  her  case  it 
was  in  the  figure  or  in  the  expression.  Her 
hips  were  a  little  accentuated,  to  be  sure,  but 
she  was  not  heavy  in  either  form  or  gait. 
She  wore,  on  the  other  hand,  that  look  of 
placid  resignation  one  sees  so  frequently  on 
the  faces  of  the  entirely  domestic  women, 
who  years  before  have  renounced  all  coquetry. 
Is  the  look  a  tribute  to  what  they  have 
missed  ?  It  would  be  hard  to  determine.  It 
did  not  express  discontent. 

Mrs.  Lawton  would  have  told  you,  and  with 
candor,  that  her  existence  had  been  an  excep- 
tionally happy  one.  No  tragedies  had  touched 
it;  hardly  such  common  sorrows  as  fall  to 
the  lot  of  most  of  us.  Her  greatest  chagrin 
had  been  when  her  husband  had  entered  the 
political  arena,  for  this  she  thought  might 


14  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

separate  him  more  from  her  and  the  children ; 
and  she  had  lost  a  sister  to  whom  she  was 
attached.  Her  parents  were  still  living,  and 
not  very  old;  she  had  married  the  man  she 
wanted ;  she  had  never  lost  a  child ;  and  her 
husband's  political  career  had  been  more  suc- 
cessful than  their  most  sanguine  imaginings. 

Of  course  Daniel  had  been  sure  to  succeed. 
She  had  hardly  looked  for  disaster.  He  al- 
ways did.  He  had  ability,  pluck  and  luck,  so 
people  said ;  and  of  his  ability  his  wife  had  no 
shadow  of  a  doubt.  She  thought  him  a  re- 
markable man,  and  remembered  that  old  Mr. 
Cairns,  who  was  the  wiseacre  of  the  city,  had 
always  prophesied  that  Dan  Lawton,  who  was 
then  still  very  young  and  obscure,  would  "  make 
himself  felt."  Those  had  been  his  words. 

As  Miss  Clem  tossed  up  her  plentiful  locks, 
the  door  opened,  and  her  father  stood  on  the 
threshold ;  his  wife  went  up  and  kissed  him. 

"  I  hoped,  papa,  you  were  still  asleep,  you 
were  up  so  late." 

"  I  can't  sleep  until  this  infernal  convention 
is  over." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  15 

Mrs.  Lawton's  eyes  rested  on  her  husband's 
with  trusting  affection ;  his  moved  good- 
humoredly  from  her  to  his  daughter,  but 
seemed  to  be  looking  over  the  women  at 
something  beyond  them. 

A  curly  head  was  thrust  in  just  now  at  the 
other  door,  which  led  down  a  long  passage  to 
the  nursery. 

"  I  say,  pop,  when  am  I  going  to  have  my 
kite  ?" 

"  Is  that  you,  you  young  rascal  ?"  said  Mr. 
Lawton,  raising  the  lovely  boy  under  the  arm- 
pits and  swinging  him  as  if  he  had  been  a 
featherweight  on  to  his  broad  shoulder.  "  You 
will  have  your  kite  when  you  learn  to  say 
the  multiplication-table  and  to  spell  hippo- 
potamus backward." 

"  Please,  pop,"  said  the  little  fellow,  whis- 
pering into  the  ear  which  was  close  by  his 
mouth  now  and  prying  it  open  with  his  thumb 
and  finger, — "  please,  pop,  say  '  up  to  five'  and 
let  the  hiporotamus  go." 

"  Breakfast  is  ready,  madam,"  announced  a 
handsome  maid  in  cap  and  apron. 


16  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

The  dining-room  was  cheerful,  and  the  table 
was  plainly  but  neatly  set;  the  linen  was 
snowy,  the  silver  bright,  and  there  was  plenty 
of  excellent  food, — rather  indifferently  cooked, 
it  must  be  confessed. 

The  children  were  all  at  the  table.  Master 
Fred  came  down  late,  in  a  velveteen  jacket 
and  a  collar  which  notched  the  ends  of  his 
ear-lobes.  He  complained  of  everything;  and, 
when  Clem  said  the  biscuits  were  "  real  hot" 
and  good  enough  for  boys,  he  repeated,  "  Real 
-hot!  Gad,  what  English!"  and  rolled  his 
eyes  up  until  they  disappeared.  By  and  by  he 
said, — 

"  Mother,  you  had  better  send  Clem  to  Miss 
SewelPs  school.  Blake's  sister  was  there  to 
finish,  and  has  come  back  what  a  girl  ought 
to  be." 

Clem  shouted  out  a  peal  of  boisterous, 
mocking  laughter. 

Fred  put  his  hands  up  to  his  ears. 

"  Clem,  for  heaven's  sake,  learn  to  modulate 
your  voice.  You  don't  know  what  bad  form 
it  is  to  scream  and  yell  like  that." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  17 

"  There,  children,  stop  squabbling.  You 
disturb  your  papa.  And,  Clem,  I  don't  know 
but  what  your  brother  is  right.  It  may  be  a 
good  notion  for  you  to  go  to  Europe  to  finish, 
but  I  don't  see  now  how  we  could  manage  it." 

Eighteen-year-old  Fred,  a  junior  in  a  great 
college,  his  mother's  pet,  was  apt  to  get  her 
upon  his  side. 

Miss  Clem  laughed  again,  but  lower  this 
time,  and  gave  forth  with  a  snap  two  words, 
— "  Xot  much." 

In  the  mean  while  Daniel  Lawton  was  eating 
a  poached  egg,  sipping  his  coffee,  and  gradu- 
ally breaking  the  seals  of  a  pile  of  letters. and 
documents  of  all  sizes  and  colors  which  had 
been  laid  near  his  plate.  A  waste-basket  had 
been  drawn  close  to  his  seat,  and  as  he  drew 
out  the  letters  one  by  one  to  open  and  peruse 
them,  such  as  were  of  no  consequence  were 
quickly  disposed  of  and  thrown  aside. 

One  of  the  secrets  of  this  man's  success  had 
always  been  that  he  possessed  the  rare  gift  of 
rejecting  the  unimportant.     Goethe   tells   us 
this  is  a  characteristic  of  the  master-mind, 
b  2* 


18  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

As  the  morning  light  played  upon  his  fore- 
head and  his  hair,  it  was  impossible  not  to  be 
struck  with  the  man's  extraordinary  good 
looks.  He  appeared  to  be  in  the  prime  and 
full  vigor  of  a  life  which,  if  it  had  been  in- 
tensely, had  been  so  far  wisely  lived.  Such 
marks  as  the  years  had  left  upon  him  were 
honorable  and  honest.  His  was  one  of  those 
heads  at  which,  when  men  met  him  in  the 
thoroughfare,  they  would  turn  to  gaze  back, 
saying  to  each  other,  "Look,  this  must  be 
some  distinguished  man." 

He  sometimes  overheard  them  and  smiled, 
for,  while  he  was  not  entirely  unaffected  by 
flattery,  he  was  not  vain.  His  hair — silky, 
fine  as  a  woman's,  now  almost  entirely  gray, 
worn  rather  long — was  thrown  back  in  waves 
from  his  broad  forehead.  His  eyes  were 
of  a  burning  blue,  piercing,  attentive,  often 
amused,  sometimes  implacable,  yet  capable  of 
a  tender  light.  His  nose  was  straight,  forcible, 
shapely,  with  sensitive  nostrils;  it  was  full 
of  character;  and  the  mouth  was  singularly 
beautiful. 


A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN  19 

Little  Dan,  between  mouthrals  of  milk 
toast,  looked  up  and  across  at  his  big  brother. 

"  Fred's  got  a  mash  on  the  Blake  girl.  I'll 
tell  Nettie  Andrews,"  he  sung  out. 

His  mother  shook  her  head  at  him  reprov- 
ingly, but  Fred,  superb  and  ignoring,  ad- 
dressed his  father  rather  pompously,  thinking 
probably  it  was  as  well  that  further  personal 
allusions  should  be  instantly  crushed. 

"  We  took  a  vote  in  the  class  the  other  day, 
sir." 

"  Well  ?"  Mr.  Lawton's  eyes  had  their  most 
merry  twinkle  in  them. 

"  They  stood  ten  to  one  against  Me  Airy,  sir, 
the  regular  voters,  but  the  independents  cut 
up  rather  rough." 

"  They  did,  did  they  ?    The  young  idiots !" 

Fred  had  been  an  independent  himself  and 
a  rather  loud  one  a  year  ago,  until  one  day, 
having  proclaimed  his  opinions  at  the  dinner- 
table  amid  stupefied  silence,  his  father  had 
looked  at  him  in  a  way  which  somehow  had 
been  "  deuced  uncomfortable,"  as  he  confided 
afterwards  to  one  of  his  female  admirers.,  the 


20  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

same  long-suffering  Nettie  Andrews  whose 
name  his  young  brother  had  so  irreverently 
tampered  with.  He  remembered  just  such  a 
look  on  his  father's  face  the  day  he  had  taken 
Tim,  the  obstreperous  under-man,  by  the  shirt- 
collar  and  sent  him  spinning  half-way  across 
the  road. 

"  What  nonsense  is  this  ?"  his  fond  parent 
had  sternly  asked.  "Don't  make  a  donkey 
of  yourself,  sir.  Don't  talk  this  infernal  jar- 
gon at  my  table  when  I  sit  at  it.  When 
you  want  to  air  that  sort  of  cheap  cynicism, 
let  me  know." 

The  last  words  had  been  spoken  with  loud 
emphasis,  and  Mr.  Lawton  had  glared  terri- 
bly. Fred  had  squirmed.  It  is  never  pleasant 
to  be  sat  upon,  particularly  before  the  women. 

Now,  to  his  women,  like  all  true  and  good 
Americans  who  hope  to  win  at  least  standing- 
room  in  heaven,  Daniel  Lawton  was  ever 
scrupulously  courteous,  keeping  such  asperi- 
ties of  character  as  he  might  possess  for  the 
rougher  contact  with  his  own  sex.  His  sons 
were  kindly  dealt  with,  no  doubt,  but  not  in- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  21 

dulged;  they  had  a  little  wholesome  fear  of 
the  "governor,"  somewhere  hidden  in  the  re- 
cesses of  their  happy  hearts, — a  vague  sense 
that  he  could  not  only  claim  but  enforce  obe- 
dience. 

Since  then  Fred's  political  convictions  had 
undergone  some  modifications,  and  he  even 
deigned  to  take  a  considerable,  although  never 
too  eager,  interest  in  his  father's  career.  All 
forms  of  eagerness  or  enthusiasm  were  part 
and  parcel  of  those  numberless  emotions 
whose  expression  was  vulgar  and  superfluous, 
and  stamped  a  man  at  once  as  "fresh,"  than 
which  no  word  in  the  English  language  could 
carry  a  more  mortal  stigma. 

In  his  secret  soul  he  thought  his  father 
rather  "  fresh,"  as,  indeed,  he  was.  He,  how- 
ever, pardoned  him  indulgently,  as  belonging 
to  a  generation  when  such  things  ware  not 
looked  upon  with  as  much  disfavor,  and  did 
not  at  once  stamp  a  man  as  entirely  unfit  for 
all  social  uses. 

Then  the  better  side  of  the  boy's  nature, 
which  was  pure  and  sweet  enough,  flared  up 


22  A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

occasionally,  and  gave  a  flash,  from  under 
the  pale  ashes  beneath  which  he  concealed 
it,  and  acknowledged  itself  proud  of  the  head 
of  the  family.  Once,  in  a  moment  of  weak- 
ness, Fred  had  even  been  heard  to  declare 
that  the  "  pater"  was  "  immense." 

To  the  father  the  son's  temperament  was 
peculiarly  unsympathetic,  the  entire  absence 
of  any  glaring  vices  having  to  be  accepted  as 
a  sort  of  negative  consolation  for  the  absence 
of  all  great  virtues. 

Mrs.  Lawton,  who  adored  her  son,  always 
said,  "He  is  only  a  bit  extravagant  on  his 
clothes;  he  has  no  bad  habits;"  and  she  was 
surprised  that  her  husband's  appreciation  of 
this  great  "blessing,"  as  she  would  have 
called  it,  was  rather  cold. 

Once,  indeed,  he  had  replied,  a  trifle  impa- 
tiently. "But  has  he  any  temptations?"  at 
which  his  wife  had  opened  her  eyes  very 
widely.  "Why,  at  his  age,"  he  continued, 
"  I  was  just  overflowing,  irrepressible." 

"  You  were  good  enough  when  I  met  you, 
Dan." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  23 

"  Ah !  That  was  five  years  later.  Let  me 
see.  I  was  twenty-two,  was  I  not,  then  ?  The 
'uses  of  adversity'  had  already  sobered  and 
made  a  man  of  me.  But  I  often  think,"  he 
added,  gallantly,  "  if  I  hadn't  married  you, 
my  dear,  so  early,  I  should  probably  have 
gone  to  the  devil." 


24  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER IL 

CONSTANCE  lay  at  fall  length  stretched  out 
upon  her  bed.  Her  tumbled  locks  were  on 
the  pillow,  making  a  dim  aureole  about  her 
fair  face.  Her  two  arms  lay  out  upon  the  fine 
silk  counterpane,  with  the  lace  ruffles  of  her 
night-dress  falling  half  over  her  long  hands. 

She  looked  up  at  the  bedhangings,  with 
their  canopy  of  antique  carvings  and  their 
pathetic  tone  of  color,  and  she  sighed.  She 
was  laughter-loving  enough,  and  drank  deeply 
every  day  of  life  and  of  love.  But  which  of 
us  has  not  sighed  when  the  dawn  awakes  us 
from  its  paradise  of  early  dreams  ? 

She  was  a  woman  of  fashion,  and  this 
means  to  a  certain  extent  a  slave;  and, 
although  she  strained  at  the  chain  of  cus- 
tom so  as  to  stretch  it  to  its  utmost  limits, 
nay,  people  said  almost  to  snap  its  subtle 
links,  she  was  too  wise — or  was  it  too  indo- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  25 

lent? — to  break  the  leash  altogether  and  es- 
.cape  into  the  uncertain  outside  world.  She 
had  noticed  that  the  wanderers  who  strayed 
into  it  returned  with  bedraggled  garments  and 
eyes  that  shrank  from  meeting  other  eyes. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  she  envied  them 
a  little  at  their  first  plunge,  but  she  had  re- 
marked that  they  soon  grew  weary  of  their 
emancipation  and  had  been  fain  to  creep 
back  as  beggars  where  they  had  once  been 
sovereigns.  She  felt  that  she  would  have 
been  too  proud  to  do  this.  Being  a  person  of 
observation  and  good  judgment,  she  had  re- 
flected and  pondered  over  these  things,  and 
she  realized  that  it  is  only  women  of  very 
superior  intellect  and  men  whose  angel  wings 
are  already  growing  who  can  be  contented 
outside  the  pale  of  social  conventions. 

To-day  she  sighed.  Yet  it  was  a  sunlit 
world  she  looked  out  at  from  under  the  cur- 
tains which  shrouded  her  so  discreetly  from 
glare  and  draft.  The  light  streamed  in  at  the 
half-opened  window,  into  which  rich  vines 
flower-laden  were  tossing  to  and  fro  in  the 


26  -A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

gentle  wind.  Their  faint  smell,  moist  and 
acrid,  was  wafted  to  her  on  the  breeze,  and 
she  drew  in  her  breath  to  drink  of  their 
fragrance.  Odors  had  a  peculiar  effect  upon 
her,  and  wherever  she  went  herself  she  left 
a  vague  perfume  which  was  the  despair  of  her 
rivals.  No  pharmacy  seemed  able  to  supply 
the  essence.  Who  knows ;  perhaps  it  was  only 
the  essence  of  health  and  of  a  generous  blood ! 
The  great  room  was  as  splendid  and  deli- 
cate as  were  the  flowers  that  waved  outside. 
It  was  all  hung  in  pale  soft  silks.  White  furs 
lay  here  and  there  on  the  inlaid  floor.  There 
were  cushioned  lounges,  insidiously  sugges- 
tive of  sensuous  delights  or  of  a  beauty's 
dream  of  conquest;  tall,  stiff,  carved  chairs, 
for  devotional  reading  or  serious  contempla- 
tion; deep,  low  ottomans,  for  summer  slum- 
bers, leisure,  and  listless  revery.  The  artistic 
Louis  XVI.  clock  ticked  majestically  on  the 
mantel-shelf,  where  were  amassed  a  thousand 
and  one  ornaments,  photographs,  forgotten 
fans,  and  useless  knick-knacks  which  seem  a 
part  of  an  elegant  woman's  existence.  Fine  bits 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  27 

of  porcelain  were  hidden  in  old  carved  wood 
cupboards  or  displayed  on  gilded  etaghes. 

The  dressing-table  was  fairly  laden  with 
its  sumptuous  brushes  and  combs,  powder- 
boxes,  ring-stands,  mirrors,  vinaigrettes,  all  of 
wrought  gold  with  jewelled  monograms. 
Among  them  a  bouquet  lay  face  downward 
fast  fading,  a  half-soiled  glove  with  its  twenty 
buttons,  and  a  note  torn  across  in  its  envelope. 
In  one  corner  a  table  was  almost  covered 
with  books  and  magazines,  piled  up  close 
under  a  tall  lamp  demurely  draped  in  its 
creamy  lace-trimmed  shade,  showing  that  the 
outfit  of  the  mondaine  could  not  be  complete 
without  a  tribute  to  mental  needs,  for  the  bed- 
room may  have  its  hour  when  reflection  must 
be  banished  or  sleep  wooed. 

The  books  were  a  motley  assortment :  some 
Russian  novels  lay  close  to  ^schylus,  Ouida's 
latest  upon  a  work  on  political  economy,  Leo- 
pardi's  poetry,  and  George  Meredith's  prose ; 
a  German  scientific  treatise  and  Guy  de  Mau- 
passant's last  story ;  Henry  James's  "  London 
Life"  and  Tolstoi's  "  De  la  Vie." 


28  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

The  sigh  heaved  upon  the  awakening  day 
brought  a  step  across  the  threshold. 

"  Madame  est  evtittee  ?" 

The  Frenchwoman  came  and  stood  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed.  She  was  not  pretty  and  was 
plainly  dressed,  with  dark  coiled  hair.  But, 
when  her  mistress  threw  her  a  "  Bon  jour," 
she  smiled  and  displayed  two  rows  of  even, 
pretty  white  teeth  which  made  her  look 
charming.  All  the  men  in  the  house  had 
tried  to  win  that  smile,  until  at  last  at  the 
altar  the  English  butler  had  fixed  it  definitely 
upon  himself.  Since  then  it  was  still  wooed, 
but  more  respectfully  and,  as  it  were,  without 
hope.  Constance  had  taken  some  interest  in 
the  marriage. 

The  maid  opened  the  shutters,  and  let  in  a 
flood  of  warmth  from  the  sunny  side  of  the 
house.  She  then  busied  herself  about  the 
porcelain  tub,  filling  it  from  a  great  water-can 
and  piling  up  towels  beside  it  on  a  chair. 

A  knock  at  the  door  she  answered  directly, 
and  received  into  her  outstretched  hands  a 
tray  on  which  were  tea,  toast,  a  bunch  of 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  29 

grapes,  some  violets,  and  a  bundle  of  letters. 
The  tray  was  concealed  with  embroidered 
linen,  and  the  china  service  was  of  rare 
fabric. 

Constance  sat  up  and  caught  her  tangled 
curls  up  into  their  comb;  her  maid  helped 
her  to  slip  on  her  peach-blossom  jacket  lined 
with  satin;  and,  taking  the  light  tray  upon 
her  knees, — 

"  I  am  awfully  hungry,"  she  said. 

"  Would  madame  like  a  boiled  egg  ?" 

"Ko." 

Before,  however,  providing  for  her  hunger- 
pangs,  she  looked  hurriedly  at  her  letters. 
She  threw  three  or  four  on  a  table  near 
the  bed  where  were  a  candle  and  an  open 
book.  The  others  she  pushed  under  the 
tray, — all  but  one,  which  she  opened  and 
read  immediately.  It  was  very  short,  but  it 
seemed  eminently  satisfactory.  It  read  thus : 

"  MY  DEAR  MRS.  GRESHAM,— 

"How  could  you  be  so  cruel  last  night? 
Promise  me  that  cotillon  to-morrow,  or  I  shall 
a* 


30  -A-  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

leave  by  the  boat  this  afternoon,  and  you  will 
hear  of  me  no  more  forever. 

"Let  me  know  what  you  will  wear,  that 
my  roses  may  suit  your  gown.  Say  yes. 

"  Yours, 

T.  P." 

This  was  all,  but  it  was  carefully  perused 
twice.  It  is  never  unpleasant  to  be  sure  of 
leading  a  cotillon  with  the  most  desired  of 
partners;  and,  although  such  things  had 
become  a  matter  of  course  to  Constance,  she 
was  not  yet  heroically  indifferent  to  them. 
There  was  a  good  bit  of  youth  and  humanity 
in  her  still. 

She  bent  forward  to  smell  the  light-brown 
stream  of  the  tea  as  it  poured  itself  into  the 
cup,  and  inspired  its  steam  with  a  pant  as  she 
had  the  scent  of  the  vines. 

"It  is  sweeter  than  flowers.  Oh,  how  I 
like  my  tea !" 

"  Madame  has  the  same  sentiment  I  have 
for  my  cafe,  au  lait  in  the  morning.  Without 
it  I  could  not  exist." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  31 

"  Coffee !  Nasty.  Don't  you  like  tea, 
Leontine  ?" 

"I  would  as  lief  drink  soap-and-water, 
madame." 

"  Very  well ;  you  shall  have  some  soap-and- 
water  for  your  breakfast  to-morrow." 

"Madame  jokes." 

"  Never." 

"  What  will  madame  wear  this  morning  ?" 

"  My  mauve  foulard." 

"  Madame  is  not  then  going  to  visit  or  to 
the  Casino?" 

"Why  not?" 

"So  simple?" 

"  Would  you  have  me  always  covered  with 
lace  and  jewelry?  It  is  rococo  and  stupid." 

"  As  madame  desires." 

"  Give  me  my  looking-glass." 

Leontine  tripped  lightly  to  the  dressing- 
table,  and  disentangled  the  hand-glass  from 
the  long  pink  ribbon  of  the  bouquet.  She 
brought  it  to  her  mistress,  and  then  went 
back  quickly  and  lifted  the  flowers,  carried 
them  to  the  window,  sprinkled  and  loosened 


32  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

them,  and  put  them  in  a  great  white  jar  full  of 
fresh  water  where  they  would  catch  the  breeze. 

"  Such  a  pity !"  she  muttered  with  a 
Frenchwoman's  love  of  flowers  and  natural 
thrift. 

In  the  mean  while  the  mistress  was  gazing 
at  herself  in  the  glass.  What  do  women  see 
in  these  long  contemplations?  What  hopes, 
what  fears,  are  reflected  within  this  narrow 
margin  of  metal  and  of  quicksilver? — mean- 
ingless to  the  child,  full  of  promise  to  the 
girl,  often  of  warning  to  the  woman. 

Constance  was  rarely  satisfied  with  the  sur- 
vey. She  had  never  admired  her  own  style. 
She  would  have  liked  to  he  imposing  and 
very  pale.  She  could  be  the  former,  although 
not  from  any  especial  fitness  of  her  features. 
The  latter  had  so  far  been  unattainable. 

She  made  a  grimace  at  herself,  opened  her 
mouth,  looked  at  her  teeth  and  her  fresh  pink 
gums,  pushed  back  her  hair  which  grew  very 
low,  turned  her  profile  sideways  as  far  as  she 
could,  only  succeeding  in  seeing  the  tip  end 
of  her  nose,  and  then,  throwing  the  mirror 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  33 

away,  sprang  from  the  bed  on  to  the  white 
bearskin.  Her  feet  sank  gratefully  into  its 
animal  warmth.  She  donned  a  long  dressing- 
gown,  slipped  on  a  pair  of  high-heeled  mules, 
and,  taking  her  letters  in  one  hand  and  hold- 
ing her  laces  with  the  other  where  they  were 
somewhat  unfastened  across  her  breast,  she 
walked  energetically  to  a  seat  near  a  window, 
her  heels  resounding  on  the  polished  floor, 
and  began  to  peruse  the  rest  of  her  mail. 

Shall  we  look  over  her  shoulder  ?  The  first 
letter  that  she  opened  was  from  a  tradesman : 

"  MRS.  GRESHAM  : 

"MADAM, — Will  you  kindly  let  us  know 
when  you  can  fit  your  habit,  as  it  is  impos- 
sible to  do  the  cover  coat  any  justice  unless 
fitted  once  more  before  it  is  sent  home  ? 

"Very  respectfully,  awaiting  further  com- 
mands, 

"PEEL  &  WEARS, 

"  Tailors  to  her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  England,  the  Em- 
press of  Austria,  the  Empress  of  Eussia,  H.  K.  H.  the 
Princess  of  Wales. 

"  London,  Paris,  Vienna,  New  York  and  St.  Petersburg." 
c 


34  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

The  second  letter  was  on  common  paper 
-and  written  in  pencil : 

"DEAR  LADY, — 

"  I  have  been  down  with  the  malaryal  fever 
for  three  weeks.  I  was  very  sick ;  there  was 
nothing  that  would  lie  on  my  stomak.  I 
prayed  to  hear  from  you.  I  knew  you  would 
write.  I  knew  you  would  send  me  something. 
I  had  no  money  left.  I  thought  lemons  and 
ice  would  save  my  life,  or  I  should  burn  up 
and  die  for  a  cold  drink.  I  think  I  went  mad 
when  your  letter  came.  When  it  was  given 
me,  I  cryed  for  joy.  I  didn't  know  what  to 
do.  I  should  have  kiled  myself  if  the  old 
man  hadn't  restrained  me.  I  made  some 
chicken  soup  and  got  ice  and  lemonade,  and 
every  day  I  got  better,  thanks  to  you,  God's 
angel  that  you  are.  Oh,  we  get  so  tired  here 
in  the  woods  with  never  a  book  or  paper.  I 
shall  be  very  thankful  for  anything  to  read. 
Those  papers  were  splendid  you  sent.  It  was 
wonderful  how  that  letter  and  that  money 
came  to  me.  I  was  wicked,  yet  God  was 


A  SUCCESSFUL   MAN  35 

helping  me  and  I  didn't  know  it.  No  more 
at  present.  I  am  so  nervous  I  can  hardly 
write.  I  keep  your  letter  under  my  pillow. 
Well,  I  will  close,  so  good-by  from 

"  CHARLEY  HURRY." 

Poor  wretch!  Constance  was  touched  by 
this  letter.  We  are  always  touched  by  any 
genuine  appreciation  of  our  virtues. 

"Poor  miserable  being!"  Once,  when  in 
mourning  and  low  spirits, — less  at  the  be- 
reavement, which  was  not  a  bitter  one,  than 
at  the  enforced  retirement,  at  which  her  vig- 
orous senses  chafed  (she  detested  the  world's 
hypocrisies),  she  had,  in  an  excess  of  impulsive 
energy,  taken  to  a  sort  of  amateur  philan- 
thropy. It  had  left  her  with  a  number  of 
helpless  "  ne'er-do-weels"  on  her  hands,  whose 
only  recommendation  was  that  they  were  poor 
devils  who  never  could  get  on  and  that  no- 
body else  would  assist.  She  had  shouldered 
them  and  carried  them  valiantly  enough  long 
after  her  hospital  visits  and  society  meetings 
had  been  abandoned,  saying,  with  her  low, 


36  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

sweet  laugh,  that  the  unworthy  poor  seemed 
to  be  her  especial  province. 

The  next  was  a  woman's  hurried  note : 

"  DEAREST  CON, —  * 

"  I  am  in  an  awful  scrape.  Didn't  you  say 
we  should  make  up  a  party  and  go  over  to  the 
convention  in  Ralph's  yacht?  Well,  I  am 
crazy  to  do  it,  and  I  told  Mrs.  Leo  I  found  I 
had  made  a  mistake  and  must  back  out  of  her 
dinner,  as  I  had  promised  myself  to  you  for 
this  expedition  ten  days  ago.  She  is  perfectly 
furious.  I  am  in  terror  lest  she  should  see 
you,  and  .you  should  tell  her  our  yacht  trip 
was  impromptu.  Please,  dear,  sustain  me  in 
my  lie !  It  is  a  pretty  huge  one. 

"  They  say  that  man  Lampson,  or  Lawton, 
or  Dawton,  or  whoever  he  is,  will  speak, — you 
know  who  I  mean, — and  that  he  is  quite  won- 
derful ;  that  really  everybody  is  talking  about 
him,  and  it  is  stupid  of  us  never  to  have  seen 
him.  I  am  so  ignorant  of  such  matters.  And 
then  the  yacht !  We  can  sup  on  board,  Ralph 
says.  It  will  all  be  over  by  eleven.  Such  a 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  37 

lovely  moon!  It  will  be  amusing — quite  a 
spree !  so  odd  and  different !  Don't  fail.  And 
above  all  if  you  see  Mrs.  Leo  say  I  was  engaged 
to  you.  You  are  so  clever  and  have  so  much  tact. 

"  Yours, 

"  MAT. 

"P.S. — If  you  see  the  Turkish  minister, 
why  not  ask  him?  I  rather  like  Mm,  and 
Ralph  is  heavy, — entre  nous." 

"  Characteristic  I"  ejaculated  Constance.  She 
leaned  back  smiling,  adding,  "  and  compli- 
mentary to  Lawton." 

She  called  him  thus  by  his  surname  without 
any  prefix  as  we  do  a  casual  celebrity,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  or  an  Italian 
tenor.  She  had  herself  never  seen  him,  and 
her  curiosity  to  do  so  was  languid,  but  she 
had  read  the  newspapers. 

The  excursion  across  the  bay  and  the  incur- 
sion into  the  party  conclave  were  only  a  new 
mode  of  passing  a  moonlit  night.  As  her 
friend  had  expressed  it,  it  was  "  odd  and  dif- 
ferent." As  such,  the  plan  commended  itself 
exceptionally  to  Mrs.  Gresham's  favor. 


38  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

There  was  only  one  more  letter  to  be  pe- 
rused, except,  indeed,  those  rejected  ones, 
evidently  unpaid  bills  or  undesirable  invita- 
tions, which  lay  neglected  on  the  little  table 
over  by  the  bedside  waiting  to  intrude  them- 
selves at  some  fitter  moment. 

Mrs.  Gresham  turned  it  over,  and  the  color 
which  she  deprecated  deepened  On  her  cheek. 

"Faugh!"  she  said. 

"We  will  not  give  it  here.  It  was  a  letter 
of  senseless  reproaches,  burning  with  passion- 
ate love  and  hate ;  such  a  letter  as  it  scorches 
a  man's  soul  to  write,  and  should  sear  the 
woman's  heart  at  which  it  is  aimed,  if  indeed 
a  heart  which  inspires  such  bitterness  has  not 
grown  callous  to  such  wounds.  It  was  as 
foolish  and  fierce  as  are  the  reproofs  that  ten- 
der and  faithful  people  heap  on  the  unfaithful 
and  unloving,  and  ...  as  impotent. 

It  ended  with  these  words :  "  Is  it  possible 
that  that  to  which  you  have  brought  me  is  for 
nothing  ?  Speak,  speak,  Constance !  tell  me 
the  truth,  that  I  may  know  if  you  are  a 
woman  or  a  fiend !" 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  39 

An  angry  light  gleamed  for  a  moment  in 
the  young  woman's  eyes,  and  she  set  her  lips 
together  and  clinched  her  teeth.  She  crushed 
the  letter  in  her  hands,  which  she  struck  to- 
gether two  or  three  times,  with  the  sheet  be- 
tween them,  as  if  mastered  for  a  moment  by 
an  overpowering  agitation. 

The  letter  did  in  fact  give  her  a  peculiar 
physical  suffering  at  the  heart,  as  if  a  hand  of 
ice  were  arresting  its  pulsations. 

"  It  is  intolerable,"  she  said.  "  If  he  had  a 
spark  of  manliness  or  of  pride,  he  would  have 
seen  long  ago  that  I  loathed  him.  My  God ! 
what  I  am  made  to  pay  for  an  hour's  co- 
quetry !  What  was  it  ?  What  was  it  ?  A 
smile,  two  or  three  foolish  letters,  a  moment's 
discouragement,  an  acknowledgment  that  I 
was  not  happy :  I  remember  just  what  I  said  : 
and  now  this  senseless  passion  pursuing  me, 
haunting  me,  filling  me  with  dread  and  hor- 
ror. I  hate  him!  I  despise  him!  but  I  am 
afraid  to  be  too  unkind.  He  makes  me  afraid. 
I  am  blameless." 

Was  she?    We  have  so  many  sophistries 


40  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

with  which  to  palliate  our  own  weaknesses. 
She  tore  the  poor  cry  of  a  man's  folly  into 
fragments  and  threw  them  into  the  empty 
grate  with  a  lighted  match  among  them. 

As  she  rose,  a  yellow  envelope  fell  to  the 
floor.  She  had  overlooked  it.  It  contained  a 
telegram,  and,  stooping  to  pick  it  up, — 

"  Tims!"  she  said. 

It  ran  thus : 

"  Have  killed  lots  of  big  game.  Shall  stop 
another  ten  days.  Capital  sport.  Tell  Barnes 
to  express  my  winter  ulster  and  more  shirts. 
Martin  knows  where  to  find  them.  Tele- 
graph if  you  are  quite  well. 

"  JACK." 

"From  the  tragic  to  the  conjugal,"  she 
thought,  and  she  could  not  help  laughing. 
As  I  said  before,  she  was  laughter-loving,  and 
the  atmosphere,  which  had  for  a  moment 
been  leaden,  grew  lighter.  Like  all  impres- 
aionable,  highly-strung  women  who  are  never- 
theless healthy  and  sane,  she  passed  through 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  41 

a  hundred  moods  in  an  hour,  and  this  made 
her  a  joy  to  those  who  had  breadth  of  vision, 
and  a  torment  to  the  narrow.  She  herself, 
while  she  fretted  and  revolted  at  narrowness, 
pitied  it,  realizing  all  that  it  misses  and  suf- 
fers, for,  as  her  friend  May  had  said,  she  was 
very  clever. 

After  the  foulard  had  been  draped  upon 
her  and  the  violets  adjusted  in  her  belt,  she 
put  on  a  hat  of  startling  dimensions,  and, 
leaving  her  room  in  the  hands  of  the  maids, 
came  down  the  wide  stairs  of  her  domain. 

A  footman  and  Kichard  the  Buttons  were 
gossiping  in  the  hall.  They  were  talking 
about  the  lately  disbanded  house  party,  which, 
it  must  be  confessed,  had  sailed  a  little  close 
to  the  wind,  had  been  merry  almost  to  bois- 
terousness,  and  even  more  than  usually  troub- 
lesome. One  unmarried  lady,  who  had  been 
invited  solely  because  of  her  gift  at  buffoonery 
and  her  talent  for  comic  songs, — she  herself 
called  them  ribald, — had  sat  up  late  with  the 
gentlemen  when  others  had  gone  to  bed,  and 
behaved  in  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Barnes,  the  butler, 

4* 


42  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

altogether  more  like  a  "play  hactress"  than 
a  well-born  woman.  Her  tips  too  had  been 
insignificant,  and  her  wit  had  failed  to  amuse 
the  valets.  She  was  being  discussed  when 
the  mistress  appeared.  The  men  separated 
in  haste,  each  bent  on  proving  himself  over- 
whelmed with  matutinal  duties.  Her  ser- 
vants respected  Mrs.  Gresham,  however  they 
might  sometimes  disapprove  of  her  guests. 
They  even  loved  her  and  thought  her  a  very 
fine  lady,  as  inferiors  do  those  who  are  at 
once  exacting  and  kind. 

Constance  walked  across  the  hall,  whose 
magnificent  proportions  and  elegant  furnish- 
ings were  the  admiration  and  envy  of  all  her 
friends  and  enemies,  and  stepped  out  on  the 
stone  terrace  which  overhung  the  sea.  Here 
was  a  low  marble  table  in  the  centre,  where 
breakfast  was  often  served  on  propitious 
mornings,  and  scattered  about  were  stone, 
china,  and  cane  seats.  It  was  shaded  with 
bright-colored  awnings  which  threw  a  red 
glow  over  the  whole,  while  the  east  side  had 
been  converted  into  a  veritable  arbor  of  exot- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  43 

ics.  She  leaned  over  the  parapet,  letting  the 
soft,  pungent  breeze  blow  her  hair  about. 
How  still  and  delicious  it  was  at  this  early 
hour,  for  it  was  early  in  this  idle  place,  where 
the  lazy  modish  butterflies  slept  late  on  their 
luxurious  couches,  and  the  stir  of  gayety 
hardly  began  before  twelve  o'clock. 

The  house  rose,  pale,  gray,  and  chaste, 
right  from  the  sea,  resting  like  some  great 
bird  upon  its  rock ;  of  pure  Elizabethan  style, 
it  fronted  upon  the  closely-clipped  green 
lawns  which  swept  in  unbroken  lines  to  the 
rose-gardens,  while  this  side  hung  over  the 
ocean,  mute,  serene,  and  silent,  with  the 
breakers  tossing  themselves  and  moaning  at 
its  base  on  the  reefs  below. 

Some  buildings  have  an  essential  power 
of  impressing  one  with  repose.  This  resi- 
dence, which  had  been  closely  copied — alas ! 
that  our  genius  goes  no  further — upon  a  Eu- 
ropean model,  and  on  which  all  that  wealth 
and  taste  could  procure  had  been  lavishly 
expended,  had  this  peculiar  quality. 

"  It  rests  the  eyes,"  Constance  had  said  to 


44  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

her  husband,  when  it  had  at  last  emerged 
entire  as  if  by  magic  from  the  moist  earth, 
and  it  had  continued  to  rest  her  eyes.  She 
had  another  home  away  in  the  great  city,  but 
Sea  Mew  was  her  delight. 

She  was  as  glad  as  the  servants  that  the 
people  were  all  gone  and  that  she  was  free. 
It  was  so  pleasant  to  do  as  one  liked.  She 
tired  of  the  restraint  of  the  houseful,  and  was 
secretly  pleased  that  even  Jack  would  stay 
away  another  ten  days  or  so,  since  he  was 
well  and  amused. 

The  sight  of  the  water  always  filled  her 
imagination  when  she  was  thus  solitary  and 
had  the  time  for  contemplation,  and  she  dis- 
missed the  remembrance  of  the  letter  which 
had  so  annoyed  her,  and  gave  herself  up  to 
revery. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  45 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  opera-house  was  strained  to  its  utmost 
capacity  to  accommodate  the  swaying  multi- 
tude which  filled  it  from  floor  to  ceiling. 
McAffy's  crowd — McAffy  was  Lawton's  only 
dangerous  rival — arrived  early  at  the  evening 
session,  wearing  blue  badges  on  their  bosoms 
and  with  a  brass  band  in  full  accompaniment. 
When  that  genial  Irishman  appeared  for  a 
moment  on  the  hotel  balcony  opposite,  there 
was  a  great  uproar  and  "  whooping  up." 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by 
Albert  Garrett,  a  short,  deep-chested  gentle- 
man with  a  giant's  voice.  A  prayer  was 
offered  by  the  Reverend  Doctor  Huffie,  pastor 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  the 
town.  He  admonished  the  Almighty  to  be 
on  hand,  as  it  were,  on  this  occasion,  and  to 
see  that  matters  were  properly  conducted,  to 


46  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

allay  all  tendency  to  inflation  or  pride  in  the 
hearts  of  the  rival  candidates,  and  to  keep 
them  from  arrogance  and  self-seeking  and 
finally  to  adjust  things  peacefully.  A  gruff 
voice  from  the  gallery  shouted  twice  during 
this  invocation,  "  Louder,  old  man,  louder !" 

Lohengrin  Potts,  a  young  county  lawyer, 
who  was  much  flushed  and  somewhat  terri- 
fied, was  escorted  to  the  platform  and  an- 
nounced as  the  temporary  chairman.  People 
were  good-natured  and  gave  Lohengrin  a 
round  of  cheers.  He  delivered  himself  of  a 
speech,  in  which  the  only  intelligible  words 
were  the  names  of  the  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  and  those  of 
Lincoln  and  George  Washington ;  but  apropos 
of  what  these  last  two  were  invoked  it  would 
be  hard  to  determine.  He  assured  his  audi- 
ence that  he  for  his  part  would  yield  to  no 
dictation  and  would  never  allow  his  party  to 
be  swayed  at  the  beck  of  any  individual  or 
corporation.  Here  he  looked  about  him 
rather  savagely.  When  he  named  the  two 
aspirants  to  the  gubernatorial  chair  of  the 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  47 

State,  the  constituents  of  each  one  shouted 
themselves  hoarse. 

After  a  short  recess  the  permanent  chair- 
man, an  ex-judge,  was  selected,  and  also  a 
secretary,  whose  name  was  Love.  The  com- 
mittee on  rules  then  stated  that  a  candidate 
would  be  chosen  before  the  platform  was 
read.  There  was  some  wrangling  at  this,  and 
a  vote  was  cast.  The  ayes  being  in  the  ascen- 
dency, business  was  resumed.  A  man,  a  colo- 
nel somebody,  came  out  in  the  pit  and  told  all 
he  knew  about  Daniel  Lawton.  He  had  had 
two  horses  shot  under  him  at  Resaca,  and  he 
had  won  his  colonel's  epaulets  on  the  battle- 
field; but  he  was  so  modest  that  he  had 
always  remained  plain  Dan  Lawton  to  his 
friends ;  he  was  a  man  of  untarnished  moral- 
ity, an  honest  financier,  an  experienced  states- 
man, a  true  American,  a  Chesterfield  in  man- 
ner, a  scholar  and  a  gentleman.  The  man 
who  was  running  against  him,  Marcus  M. 
Curley,  he  prophesied  if  elected  would  prove 
false  to  every  trust.  He  was  a  scoundrel,  a 
liar,  grossly  immoral,  a  low  person,  and  alto- 


48  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

gether  unfit  for  a  place  of  responsibility.  (It 
may  be  said  here  that  Mr.  Curley  was  in  fact 
a  very  decent  fellow.)  He  insisted  that  the 
national  honor  was  at  stake,  and,  while  he 
had  nothing  to  say  against  Mr.  McAffy,  who 
was,  he  knew,  an  honorable  gentleman,  he 
felt — nay,  he  knew — that  Daniel  Lawton  was 
the  choice  of  the  party  at  large  and  the  only 
man  sure  of  victory.  "  His  record  is  clean ; 
he  stands  upon  it,"  he  cried,  and  he  sat  down 
amid  vociferous  applause. 

Then  a  long-winded  and  less  happy  orator 
got  upon  his  legs,  and  dwelt  upon  McAffy's 
eminent  virtues  and  untarnished  fame.  Mc- 
Affy hats  were  thrown  wildly  into  the  air,  and 
his  adherents'  lungs  seemed  to  be  noisier  than 
Lawton's. 

The  delegates  of  the  northern  counties  went 
solid  for  Daniel  Lawton,  except  one,  who 
presented  the  name  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
Busk.  Everybody  knew  this  was  only  done 
to  stave  off  Lawton's  immediate  success,  and 
the  name  was  silently  dropped.  One  or  two 
more  names  were  advanced.  After  this  the 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  49 

balloting  commenced.  It  was  spirited,  but 
the  McAffys  felt  almost  immediately  that  their 
game  was  up.  At  the  last  count  the  totals 
were  Lawton  385,  McAffy  105,  Busk  57,  and 
a  few  others  out  of  sight.  Then  it  was  moved 
by  the  unsuccessful  to  make  Lawton's  nomina- 
tion unanimous.  This  was  done  amid  tremen- 
dous enthusiasm.  The  delegates  all  stood 
up  afterwards  and  sang  "  Marching  through 
Georgia,"  while  Me  Airy  stepped  across  the 
platform  and  shook  hands,  with  such  cordiality 
as  he  could  muster,  with  Mr.  Lawton. 

The  latter  had  only  just  entered  the  con- 
vention. He  was  at  once  called  upon  for  a 
speech.  He  stepped  forward  and  said  a  few 
words.  His  effort  did  not  overlast  fifteen 
minutes.  To  the  occupants  of  the  proscenium 
boxes — in  one  of  which  were  Mrs.  Gresham 
and  her  friends,  in  the  other  Fred  and  Clem- 
ence  Lawton  and  a  few  leaders  of  their  father's 
party — it  seemed  a  very  short  speech  indeed. 
Brilliant  it  certainly  was.  With  heart  beating 
high  and  a  voice  somewhat  tremulous,  he  ut- 
tered his  thanks  in  a  pithy,  manful,  graceful 
c  d  .  5 


50  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

way,  pledging  himself  to  do  his  duty  boldly 
and  not  to  disappoint  his  friends.  He  had  a 
special  gift  at  unprepared  utterance;  he  was 
clear,  sonorous,  even  eloquent.  His  English 
was  flowing,  terse,  and  forcible,  with  just  a 
suggestion  here  and  there  of  poetic  sentiment, 
and  never  an  instant's  lapse  into  sentimen- 
tality or  affectation. 

Clemence  Lawton  listened  breathlessly  to 
her  father.  Through  all  the  early  part  of  the 
evening  her  political  fervor  had  been  inter- 
fered with  by  her  entranced  observance  of  the 
party  in  the  opposite  box,  her  brother  having 
told  her  that  he  had  seen  Mrs.  Gresham  be- 
fore when  he  was  visiting  his  friend  Blake 
on  Long  Island;  that  she  was  a  lady  of  the 
highest  fashion,  and  took  five-barred  fences 
with  as  much  ease  as  she  led  the  dance  at  the 
hunt  balls  afterwards. 

"  I  think  she  is  just  perfectly  lovely,"  said 
Clemence. 

"  She's  no  end  of  a  swell." 

"  Were  you  introduced  ?" 

"  Well— no— not  exactly."    Fred  didn't  like 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  5J 

to  admit  that  Blake  himself  was  not  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Gresham,  and  only  dared  look  at 
her  from  great  and  respectful  distances. 

There  were  two  ladies  in  the  box  with  her 
and  quite  a  crowd  of  gentlemen.  The  latter 
were  in  evening  dress.  They  chattered  a 
great  deal  among  themselves,  laughed  once  or 
twice  rather  disturbingly,  and  did  not  seem 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  convention. 

Mrs.  Gresham,  however,  was  an  exception. 
She  had  leaned  over  and  listened,  apparently 
entirely  absorbed  in  the  row  of  faces  before 
her,  in  the  speeches,  and  in  the  voting,  ob- 
livious of  her  companions.  When  Daniel 
Lawton  rose  she  turned  to  hush  them. 

"  See,"  she  said,  "  he  is  going  to  speak. 
I  think  it  very  exciting." 

The  Turkish  minister,  who  had  been  se- 
cured, screwed  an  eye-glass  into  a  limpid,  dark 
eye  and  pushed  a  little  towards  the  front  of 
the  box.  May  Gerold  also  put  up  her  enam- 
elled lorgnette  and  craned  forward. 

"  Is  that  Lawton  ?  Why,  Con,  the  man's  a 
perfect  beauty !" 


52  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"He  looks  like  some  great  poet  or  musi- 
cian, doesn't  he  ?" 

"  A  superb  head !" 

The  man's  eloquence  silenced  everybody. 
The  sigh  of  an  infant  would  have  seemed 
loud  and  profane.  When  he  ceased,  the  hum 
of  approval  in  the  boxes  was  drowned  by  the 
delirium  in  the  orchestra  and  family  circle. 

"Would  you  like  to  know  him?"  The 
speaker  was  Tom  Fane. 

"  Why,  of  course.  How  will  you  manage 
it?" 

"  I  will  have  him  here  in  two  minutes ;" 
and  he  left  the  box.  He  stopped  Mayor 
Healey,  who  was  just  descending  from  the 
platform,  whom  he  knew  very  well,  and  told 
him  that  Mrs.  Jack  Gresham  and  some  ladies 
wished  to  shake  hands  with  the  hero  of  the 
night 

The  mayor  had  heard  of  the  Jack  Greshams : 
of  course  the  great  capitalist  and  his  wife 
were  not  obscure  people.  In  the  mean  while 
the  Lawton  children  and  the  crowd  were 
filing  out  into  the  aisles. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  53 

When  Daniel  Lawton  was  ushered  into 
Mrs.  Gresham's  presence,  all  the  party  were 
standing  up  in  the  box  hunting  for  their 
wraps.  His  entrance  caused  a  little  disturb- 
ance. She  looked  up,  and  Tom  Fane  pre- 
sented him.  They  gazed  at  each  other  as 
strangers  do, — he  indifferently,  she  with  curi- 
osity. She  was  one  of  those  women,  however, 
at  whom  men  do  not  look  with  impunity 
twice,  and  Lawson  proved  no  exception. 

She  said,  "We  will  wait  for  a  moment, 
until  the  crowd  disperses.  Will  you  stay 
with  us  a  few  minutes,  or  are  you  expected 
elsewhere  to-night  ?" 

"  I  am  free  for  the  present,"  he  answered, 
"  and  will  do  myself  the  honor  of  escorting 
you  to  your  carriage." 

What  could  have  been  more  banal  or  com- 
monplace? Yet  the  next  five  minutes — it 
was  hardly  more — left  a  vivid  impression  on 
them  both.  She  said  some  low,  flattering 
words  about  his  speech, — that  while  she  had 
often  heard  of  his  gifts,  they  had  been  to  her 
the  revelation  of  a  great  power. 
5* 


54  A.  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  I  never,"  she  said,  "  took  my  eyes  from 
your  lips  for  one  moment;  I  was  quite  en- 
chained." 

She  thought  that  he  received  her  praise 
coldly.  She  had  expected  that  he  would  at 
least  tell  her  that  he  had  noticed  her  face  in 
the  box,  she  had  been  so  near  him.  He  did 
not,  however,  and  the  delinquency  gave  her  a 
movement  of  pique,  almost  of  resentment, 
so  accustomed  was  she  to  compliment. 

"  I  dare  say  he  would  be  an  oaf  in  the 
drawing-room,"  she  said  to  herself. 

The  others,  who  had  gone  out  into  the  lob- 
bies, came  back  to  look  for  her,  and,  leaning 
on  Lawton's  arm,  picking  their  way  down  the 
stairs  through  the  crowd  which  still  blocked 
the  door-way,  they  reached  the  sidewalk  at 
last. 

"An  oaf"  he  certainly  was  not  to-night. 
Hats  were  lifted  and  voices  raised  in  felicitation 
and  greeting  as  he  passed,  and  the  elegant 
woman  at  his  side  felt  as  if  her  own  brow  was 
circled  for  a  moment  with  half  of  his  laurels. 
Her  heart  beat  high  under  its  imprisoning 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  55 

laces,  and  the  hand  which  rested  upon  his 
broad- cloth  sleeve  trembled  with  agreeable 
nervous  excitement.  As  they  emerged  into 
the  moonlit  square,  the  band  struck  up  "  Hail 
to  the  Chief." 

He,  too,  was  just  a  little  intoxicated,  and  the 
soft  pressure  of  a  woman's  arm  seemed  a  fit- 
ting accompaniment  to  his  exaltation.  He 
held  her  slender  hand  for  a  moment  in  his 
broad  one  at  parting,  and  it  gave  him  a  queer 
sensation,  such  as  he  had  not  known  for  a 
very  long  time.  He  did  not  feel  quite  cer- 
tain whether  it  was  the  hand  or  the  music  or 
the  moonshine.  It  was  a  touch  of  returning 
romance  that  had  been  dimmed  by  the  years. 
She  leaned  out  to  him  from  the  portiere. 

"If  you  ever  come  across  the  bay,"  she 
said,  gravely,  "we  shall  feel  much  honored 
if  you  will  stop  and  see  us.  I  am  generally 
at  home  about  five  o'clock." 

She  had  never  before  asked  a  man  to  visit 
her  upon  such  brief  acquaintance,  and  the 
impulse  remained  unexplained.  -  Then  the 
carriage  had  driven  off  with  its  burden  to  the 


56  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

quay,  near  which  the  yacht  was  pulling  at  her 
anchor. 

"  Just  like  Con's  luck,"  said  Mrs.  Gerold, 
"  to  go  to  her  first  political  shindy  and  come 
out  leading  the  only  important  magnate  by 
the  ear.  She  carried  off  all  the  cheers,  and 
people  took  the  rest  of  us  for  humble  append- 
ages, useless  hangers-on  of  greatness." 

"Are  you  sure  it  was  luck?"  said  Fane. 

"  Oh,  well,  a  siren's  luck  if  you  like." 

The  Turkish  minister,  who  hadn't  relished 
being  unimportant,  now  laboriously  explained 
to  Mrs.  Gerold,  sitting  up  very  stiffly  in  the 
front  of  the  carriage,  holding  his  hat  between 
his  knees,  that  Mr.  Lawton,  while  undoubt- 
edly a  very  distinguished  person,  might  not 
be  elected  after  all.  He  had  insisted  that 
Tom  Fane  should  state  matters  clearly  to  him 
all  the  way  across  in  the  boat,  and  was  glad 
now  to  show  the  ladies  that  he  was  entirely 
aufait. 

"  Oh,  he'll  be  elected,"  she  replied,  stifling 
a  yawn ;  "  but  you  may  be  sure,  if  he  is  or  is 
not,  I  give  him  less  than  thirty-eight  hours  to 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  57 

be  on  Mrs.  Gresham's  back  terrace  sipping 
weak  decoctions  of  tea,  and  wagging  Ms  tail 
when  she  deigns  to  throw  him  a  bit  of  stale 
cake.  Eh,  Connie  ?" 

But  Constance  remained  silent.  As  she 
climbed  up  the  side  of  the  yacht,  which  looked 
like  a  phantom  thing  swinging  under  the 
stars,  and  stepped  upon  its  deck,  she  felt  like 
one  embarking  upon  some  pleasant  -voyage 
of  discovery  whose  outset  is  full  of  allure- 
ment. 

It  had  not  occurred  to  Daniel  Lawton  to  be 
surprised  at  his  wife's  absence.  Her  lack 
of  any  earnest  participation  in  his  political 
life  had  ceased  to  be,  if  indeed  it  ever  had 
been,  a  source  of  regret  to  him.  She  had  at 
least  never  put  any  palpable  spokes  in  his 
wheel  of  good  fortune,  and  he  knew  he  owed 
much  to  her  of  that  tranquillity  of  brain  so 
important  to  those  whose  existence  is  spent  in 
the  rush  and  smoke  of  conflict.  He  was  one 
of  those  men  who  are  fond  of  mixing  with 
his  kind  for  discussion,  debate,  or  argument, 
and  of  such  society  as  fell  to  his  lot;  but  he 


58  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

was  in  no  sense  what  one  may  call  gregarious. 
Among  men  he  had  few  close  friendships  and 
craved  fewer,  and  among  women  he  had  none. 
He  had  never  known  a  rich  intimacy  with  a 
woman  who  was  his  equal.  He  would  hardly 
have  acknowledged  to  himself  that  his  wife 
was  not  a  companion  to  him,  that  his  children 
were  not  necessities,  or  that  when  in  the 
house  his  happiest  and  fullest  hours  were 
spent  in  his  study.  He  had  early  in  life  con- 
tracted the  habit  of  a  certain  solitariness  at 
home,  and  his  wife  had  respected  his  seclu- 
sion. Busy  with  pressing  practical  details 
from  morning  until  eve,  he  wrested  hard- 
earned  night  and  evening  hours  from  fireside 
chat  or  needed  sleep,  for  study.  He  could  do 
with  very  little  sleep,  for  he  had  an  iron  con- 
stitution and  great  virility  of  mind  and  body. 
To  give  an  example  of  the  man's  energy  and 
courage :  Unable  to  find  a  translation  of  an 
important  German  work  on  political  economy 
which  he  wished  to  read,  and  irritated  at  his 
own  disability,  he  set  himself  at  work  in  the 
evenings  to  learn  a  very  difficult  language  at 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  59 

a  time  when  press  of  private  business  joined 
to  official  duties  well-nigh  overwhelmed  him. 
In  three  months  he  had  gone  through  the 
book  with  a  dictionary.  In  six  he  could  read 
German  with  ease.  His  wife  looked  on.  She 
rarely  talked  to  him  on  literary  matters,  being 
herself  no  reader  and  having  a  most  modest 
opinion  of  her  own  powers  as  a  critic.  Of 
politics  she  had  the  vague  jealousy  which 
women  who  have  no  doubt  of  their  husbands' 
or  lovers'  fidelity  feel  for  his  favorite  pursuit 
or  pastime.  This  lack  of  alacrity  on  her  part 
might  have  vexed  a  more  exacting  husband, 
but  left  him  indifferent. 

She  did  not  notice  this  indifference,  or  she 
would  have  called  it  by  another  name.  His 
cares  and  ambitions  gave  him  no  time  for 
splitting  straws,  not  even  with  his  wife.  All 
he  asked  of  home  was  leisure  and  calm,  and 
she  accepted  the  situation,  seeking  no  expla- 
nation of  the  lack  of  all  depth  in  their  inter- 
course. She  was  not  analytical,  and  then — 
he  was  so  indulgent ! 

Their  acquaintances  thought  her  very  infe- 


60  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

rior  to  her  husband.  Household  questions, 
economies  or  expenditures,  the  children,  their 
health,  their  education,  their  future,  formed 
the  basis  of  her  communings  with  him.  He 
had  ceased  to  expect  more  of  marriage,  or 
indeed  of  women.  He  had  a  maiden  sister 
who  loved  polemics,  had  advanced  ideas,  and 
wore  spectacles.  She  was  a  shrewd,  discursive 
person,  of  ready  wit,  whose  conversation  he 
enjoyed,  and  with  whom  once  a  year  he  had 
a  little  sharp-shooting  on  questions  political, 
literary,  or  religious;  but  he  considered  her 
a  man  in  petticoats.  The  relations  between 
men  and  women  were,  he  thought,  simple 
enough.  By  his  intellect  he  understood  most 
things ;  but  the  secrets  of  the  passions  baffle 
the  keenest  insight.  He  had  mused,  it  is 
true,  sometimes,  over  the  vagaries  of  the 
sexual  passion,  its  inconsequences  and  its 
follies,  as  he  heard  them  whispered  about 
him  or  read  of  them  in  his  morning  paper. 
He  had  shuddered,  and  felt  glad  that  such 
irregularities  and  tragedies  had  never  touched 
him  or  his,  not  in  the  least  from  any  pharisai- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  61 

cal  spirit  of  superciliousness  or  because  he 
fancied  for  a  moment  that  they  could  not,  but 
because  he  was  naturally  clean  and  whole- 
some. Such  things  filled  him  with  unrest  and 
uneasiness.  "Who  knows?  Perhaps  he  sus- 
pected the  existence,  somewhere  in  the  deeper 
recesses  of  his  own  being,  of  an  animalism 
which  must  always  exist  in  rounded  tempera- 
ments, and  that,  given  other  circumstances, 
might  have  been  a  foe  to  his  peace. 

Now  he  stopped  to  send  his  wife  a  telegram. 
He  wrote  it  standing  in  the  hotel  corridor. 

"  Nominated  on  the  second  ballot.     Let  no 
one  sit  up.     I  shall  be  kept  in  town  very  late. 

"D.  L." 

On  his  way  to  join  some  friends  who  ex- 
pected him  to  eat  oysters  and  drink  cham- 
pagne with  them,  his  thought  was,  curiously 
enough,  less  of  his  evening's  triumph  than  of 
the  sorry  figure  he  had  cut  in  Mrs.  Gresham's 
box,  or  at  least  so  it  had  seemed  to  him.  He 
had  felt  extraordinarily  diffident,  and  had  re- 
6 


62  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

ceived  her  sweet  flatteries  without  warmth  or 
even  common  courtesy. 

"  I  declare,"  he  thought,  "  we  go  out  so  lit- 
tle— it  is  ridiculous ! — I  forget  how  to  behave. 
That  lovely  lady  must  have  thought  me  half  a 
savage." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  63 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Two  days  later,  Lawton  was  called  upon  to 
attend  an  evening  meeting  of  his  constituents 
at  the  city  across  the  water.  He  took  a  mid- 
day boat,  concluded  it  would  be  convenient  to 
pass  the  night,  and,  registering  at  the  princi- 
pal hotel,  the  Goshen  House,  where  he  wa8 
well  known  and  treated  with  marked  consid- 
eration, be  left  his  bag  in  his  room  and  saun- 
tered out  for  a  stroll.  His  path  lay  between 
the  trimmed  green  lawns  of  splendid  private 
places  and  the  ocean.  Here  the  public  were 
allowed  to  flit  past,  skirting  the  cliffs  which 
hugged  the  shores,  if  they  would  respect  the 
laws  of  proprietorship,  and  not  pause  too  long 
or  injure  shrubs  and  flower-beds ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  they  were  grateful  for  their  privileges 
and  discreet  in  their  behavior. 

It  was  a  sultry  afternoon  of  the  late  sum- 
mer, and  the  twilight  was  drawing  nigh.  A 


64  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

warm  glow  rested  upon  the  laughing  sea, 
which  was  to-night  neither  angry  nor  turbu- 
lent, but  wooing  as  a  capricious  woman  can 
be  in  her  softer  humor. 

The  love  of  nature,  as  indeed  of  all  beauty, 
was  strong  in  Lawton.  It  was  untutored,  and 
hence  all  the  more  satisfying.  After  walking 
for  a  half-hour,  enjoying  every  breath  of  the 
golden  air,  he  came  suddenly  to  a  curve  in 
the  path  and  to  a  stand-still  before  a  wonder- 
ful picture,  Sea  Mew  rising  up  out  of  its  rock 
right  in  front  of  him  like  an  enchanted  palace. 

"  Is  this  Mr.  Greshanr s  place  ?"  he  stopped 
and  inquired  of  a  woman,  a  maid  who  was 
sitting  alone  in  a  summer-house  which  jutted 
just  here  out  over  the  rocky  beach. 

"  That  is  Monsieur  Graysham's  house,"  re- 
plied Leontine,  with  her  pretty  accent. 

"  Thank  you."  He  took  off  his  hat  to  her 
as  he  moved  on. 

"  Qu'esl-ce  que  §a  pent  $tre  que  ce  monsieur  ?" 
she  thought. 

He  looked  different  from  the  habitu&s.  She 
felt  some  doubts  concerning  him,  and  com- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  55 

mented,  when  she  saw  him  hesitate  a  moment 
and  then  walk  up  following  the  path  through 
the  rose  gardens,  that  he  was  some  ecrivain  or 
samnt,  such  as  madame  received  occasionally. 

"  II  a  une  belle  ieie  tout  de  meme"  she  said  to 
herself,  as  he  disappeared  in  the  shrubbery, 
"  and  he  is  very  polite." 

Partly  through  idleness,  and  partly  through 
curiosity  to  see  a  place  whose  glories  were  on 
every  tongue,  and  more  especially,  shall  it  be 
said,  to  efface  an  impression  of  his  own  awk- 
wardness which  had  lingered  disagreeably  in 
his  memory  since  his  meeting  with  Mrs. 
Gresham,  he  impulsively  determined  to  call 
upon  her. 

"  She  invited  me,"  he  thought.  When  he 
rang  the  bell,  however,  he  was  half  surprised 
at  his  own  temerity,  and  found  himself  hoping 
that  she  would  not  be  at  home.  She  had 
seemed  to  him  very  fastidious  and  unap- 
proachable, and  he  felt  a  secret  fear  of  her. 
The  women  he  knew  had  never  been  in  any 
way  alarming  to  him. 

He  was  told  that  Mrs.   Gresham  was  at 

e  6* 


66  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

home,  however,  _and  he  was  conveyed  across 
interminable  vestibules  and  through  several 
large  drawing-rooms,  whose  heavy  portieres 
were  pushed  back  to  let  him  pass  by  the  two 
footmen  who  piloted  him,  until  at  last  he 
reached  the  terrace. 

"  Mr.  Lawton,"  announced  Barnes. 

The  picture  which  here  met  his  eyes  was 
also  very  charming.  What  he  saw  was  three 
or  four  women  clad  in  light  summer  gar- 
ments, with  slim,  tightly-laced  figures,  carry- 
ing marvellous  hats  and  parasols  on  and  over 
their  heads,  sitting  or  reclining  in  various 
attitudes  of  ease,  that  ran  through  a  pretty 
gamut  of  color,  while  a  half-dozen  men 
lounged  about  them,  one  dangling  his  feet 
from  the  marble  centre-table.  These  also 
wore  more  or  less  picturesque  attire.  Some 
were  still  in  morning-coats ;  one  in  top-boots 
and  breeches,  just  from  the  ride ;  one  in  yacht- 
ing cap  and  flannels ;  two  in  frock-coats,  with 
gardenias  in  their  button-holes,  and  canes  and 
stiff  hats  held  between  their  knees. 

He  heard  a  woman's  voice  say,  "  The  thirty- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  67 

eight  hours  are  not  yet  up ;  am  I  a  prophet  or 
no  ?"' 

Then  a  man's  voice  replied,  "Fair  Lady 
Con's  new  fad." 

Then  somebody  said  "  Hush !"  and  there 
was  a  sound  of  suppressed  laughter,  while  he 
stepped  down  among  them,  and  his  hostess 
came  quickly  forward  to  receive  him. 

"  How  exquisite  she  was  and  so  different 
from  the  others !"  he  thought,  as  he  watched 
her  lithe  grace,  her  energetic,  harmonious 
movements,  and  listened  to  her  caressing 
voice  of  welcome.  He  thought  she  made  the 
others  look  empty,  trivial,  and  awkward.  He 
hardly  formulated  this  impression,  but  was 
only  conscious  in  looking  at  her  of  that  sense 
of  contentment  which  a  man  of  discernment 
and  imagination  feels  in  what  is  complete  and 
finished.  She  seemed  to  him  the  essence  of 
that  culture  the  world  imparts.  He  was  glad 
to  see  there  were  such  women  in  America. 
She  might  have  been  an  empress.  Royal 
princes'  with  whom  she  had  danced  at  foreign 
courts  had  told  her  this  before. 


68  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

She  shook  hands  with  him,  and  there  was 
in  the  firm  rapid  touch  something  of  force 
and  of  character.  She  seemed  to  leave  the 
impress  of  herself  upon  his  palm.  She  named 
him  only  to  one  or  two  of  the  women  who 
were  near  her,  and  to  none  of  the  men  pres- 
ent. This  seemed  to  him  unusual,  belonging 
himself  to  a  world  where  introductions  and 
hand-shakings  were  held  of  paramount  impor- 
tance. Yet,  on  the  whole,  he  thought  it  a 
relief.  He  also  noticed  that  after  a  few  light 
words  about  the  lovely  evening  no  particular 
effort  was  made  for  his  entertainment.  One 
young  woman  did  indeed  ask  him,  looking 
up  at  the  awnings,  what  boat  had  brought 
him  over,  and  if  there  were  one  every  two 
hours,  as  she  wished  to  visit  some  friends  near 
his  town ;  but  she  did  not  wait  for  his  answer 
and  cut  it  short  by  asking  him  if  he  didn't 
think  this  terrace  "  a  dear." 

The  servants  here  brought  in  tea  and 
bread-and-butter,  and,  while  Mrs.  Gresham 
busied  herself  among  the  cups,  he  had  plenty 
of  time  for  observation,  and,  being  a  careful 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  69 

student  of  humanity  in  its  varied  aspects,  he 
was  a  good  deal  amused.  These  people  all 
looked  to  him  about  the  same  age, — he  would 
have  said  varying  anywhere  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty-five, — and  very  much  alike.  They 
were  evidently  extremely  intimate  among 
themselves,  having  numberless  jokes  which 
he  did  not  understand.  Their  intercourse 
indeed  seemed  to  consist  in  peals  of  pointless 
merriment  and  an  exchange  of  monosyllables 
which  were  to  him  generally  unintelligible. 
There  existed  here  evidently  a  freemasonry 
whose  grip  he  had  never  been  taught.  It 
made  him  feel,  however,  somehow  as  if  they 
were  very  clever  and  wide-awake  and  he  very 
old  and  dull.  They  called  each  other  by  their 
Christian  names  or  nicknames  or  by  appella- 
tions even  more  informal.  One  six-footer, 
with  a  drooping  blonde  moustache  and  an 
eyeglass,  was  addressed  by  the  women  as 
"  Baby."  The  "  Baby"  could  not  find  a  seat 
to  his  taste,  and  complained  of  this,  affecting 
a  child's  whimper. 

"Come,  'Baby,'  stop   crying,"   said  a  girl 


70  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

in  a  sailor  hat.  "  I  will  give  you  half  of 
mine.''' 

"  Why,  you  have  it  all  filled  with  your  own 
sails." 

"  I  will  take  in  a  reef.  Come,  I  will  show 
you !  Let  me  take  your  arm,  so.  If  we  go 
down  together,  we  will  just  fit  in." 

They  did  in  fact  "  go  down"  together  and 
fitted  into  the  wide  cane-bottomed  seat  which 
was  made  to  do  duty  for  both.  The  young 
lady  was  pretending  to  smoke  a  cigarette, 
and  the  man  took  it  from  between  her  lips 
and  placed  it  in  his  own.  Lawton  wondered 
if  the  next  move  would  be  a  masculine  arm 
cast  about  the  round  waist  which  fashion  had 
tortured  into  a  compass  of  nineteen  inches. 
He  also  wondered,  in  parenthesis,  how  the 
larger  functions  of  life  could  go  on  within 
such  a  narrow  limit. 

There  was  no  especial  appearance  of  ill- 
health,  however,  about  the  young  woman,  for 
she  was  dazzlingly  fair  and  blooming.  Her 
high  aquiline  features  were  encircled  by  a 
quantity  of  copper-colored  hair.  Her  thin 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  71 

arms,  tightly  encased  in  the  cloth  of  her 
yachting  costume,  were  held  somewhat  away 
from  her  sides,  so  that  one  could  appreciate  a 
slenderness  which  leaned  to  angularity.  She 
talked  in  a  key  which  was  apparently  bor- 
rowed, not  her  own,  with  an  affected  intona- 
tion, and  bore  herself  with  an  arrogance 
which  seemed  to  assert,  "I  am  a  beauty, 
look!" 

She  was  called  one.  Leaning  back  in  her 
chair,  she  exhibited  a  good  deal  of  silk  stock- 
ing, and  one  was  more  absorbed  in  surmises 
as  to  how  her  hose  could  so  exactly  match 
her  hair,  her  gown,  her  gloves,  and  her  para- 
sol, and  in  paying  tribute  to  her  artistic  skill 
in  this  matter,  than  to  any  study  of  the 
shapely  leg  beneath  them.  It  was  soon  borne 
in  upon  Mr.  Lawton  that  he  need  have  felt  no 
anxiety  as  to  the  young  lady's  danger  from 
her  neighbor's  ill-repressed  ardor.  They  .con- 
tinued to  sit  next  to  each  other  for  some-  min-» 
utes,  to  exchange  cabalistic  phrases,  and  enig- 
matic smiles,  and  yet  Lawton  saw  that  nothing 
in  the  world  could  have  been. 'less  suggestive 


72  A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

of  impropriety.  He  in  his  high  shirt  collar 
and  she  in  her  brilliant  hardness  resembled 
automatic  puppets;  sexless!  one  felt  they 
might  have  sat  there  until  doomsday  and 
no  one  have  been  the  better  or  worse  off  in 
this  generation  or  the  next. 

By  and  by  Mrs.  Gresham  called  out,  "  You 
know  you  are  absolutely  ridiculous,  you  two  ! 
Geraldine,  come  and  help  me  pour  out  the 
tea!" 

Thus  admonished,  Geraldine  moved  to  the 
table,  and  he  of  the  yellow  eyelash  stretched 
himself  out  complacently  as  if  he  greatly  pre- 
ferred having  the  chair  to  himself. 

Mrs.  Gresham  now  gave  Lawton  his  cup 
and  addressed  him  particularly,  as  if  she  fan- 
cied he  was  rather  too  much  left  out  in  the 
cold.  She  spoke  of  the  convention  and  her 
keen  interest  in  the  coming  canvass. 

"  I  am  already  hard  at  work  for  you,"  she 
said,  "  and  have  a  promise  of  a  dozen  votes 
from  those  tiresome,  discouraging  indepen- 
dents." 

He  sipped  his  tea  with  the  breath  of  her 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  73 

close  to  him,  her  garments  almost  sweeping 
his  feet,  and  he  found  himself  wishing  these 
superfluous  other  people  would  cease  their 
idle  prattle  and  go  away  and  leave  them 
alone. 

By  and  by  she  seemed  to  divine  his  thoughts. 
"  Come,  now,  my  dears,"  she  said,  "  you  must 
all  of  you  clear  away  and  be  gone.  There  is 
a  pernicious  damp  coming,  and  you  feminines 
have  to  crimp  your  hair  and  get  your  com- 
plexions in  order  for  the  ball  to-night ;  and  as 
for  you,  my  lazy  gentlemen,  it  is  high  time 
you  got  yourselves  out  of  your  morning-coats. 
I,  too,  must  soon  be  arraying  myself  in  my 
dinner-gown." 

There  was  a  cry  of  protest  and  a  momentary 
strife  of  tongues,  but  they  did  all  admit  at 
last  that  it  was  later  than  they  had  thought. 
One  of  the  men,  whom  they  called  Fane,  and 
who  wore  a  frock-coat,  insisted  that  he  was 
faultlessly  dressed,  that  he  was  perfectly  com- 
fortable, and  that  he  intended  remaining 
where  he  was  until  his  bones  bleached  upon 
the  terrace;  but  the  women  protested  and 
D  7 


74  ^   SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

dragged  him  away,  and  gradually,  in  parties 
of  twos  and  threes,  they  dispersed. 

Lawton  arose  and  apologized  for  so  long  an 
intrusion. 

"I  only  wanted  to  be  rid  of  them,"  she 
said,  when  they  were  alone.  "  I  have  hours 
before  dinner.  By  the  way,  can't  you  dine 
here  ?  I  expect  only  a  few  guests." 

"  Thanks.  I  must  dine  at  half-past  six,  as 
my  meeting  is  before  eight." 

"Ah !  and  I  dine  at  eight.  Well,  it  will  be 
another  time.  In  the  mean  while,  don't  leave 
me  yet !" 

She  said  the  last  words  as  a  spoiled  child 
would  implore  a  favor,  letting  his  eyes  meet 
and  rest  upon  her  own. 

"  I  want  to  show  you  another  view ;  come !" 
So  saying,  she  led  her  too  willing  captive 
down  the  terrace  steps  on  to  a  ledge  of  the 
weedy  rocks.  They  stood  side  by  side,  almost 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  speechless,  looking  out 
at  the  placid  waters.  The  draperies  of  her 
long  tea-gown  fluttered  against  him  with  a 
soft  swish. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  75 

"  What  a  divine  night !  And  you  see  this 
expanse  at  every  hour  ?  How  I  envy  you !" 

"Ah !  that  is  the  misfortune  of  all  acquisi- 
tions," she  said,  smiling.  "Envy!  Others 
tried  to  purchase  this  point,  but  Mr.  Gresham 
was  too  quick  for  them.  They  feel  towards 
us  a  good  deal  as  McAfly  does  towards 
you." 

"And  don't  people  envy  you  other  things 
besides  the  place  ?" 

She  recognized  the  ring  of  flattery  in  his 
tone,  but,  woman-like,  was  determined  to 
make  him  more  explicit. 

"  What,  for  instance  ?" 

"Your  loveliness,  your  grace,  and,  above 
all,  your  individuality,"  he  said,  enthusiasti- 
cally. 

She  blushed  with  pleasure.  "  He  is  really 
very  nice,"  she  thought. 

He  hardly  knew  himself.  Some  one  else 
seemed  speaking  in  him. 

"My — individuality?"  she  said. 

"  Yes,  just  that.  It  impressed  me  the  very 
first  moment.  It  must  be  a  constant  stum- 


76  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

bling-block  of  offence  to  others.  It  is  never 
pardoned,"  he  said,  smiling. 

"  You  speak  from  your  own  experience  ?" 

"  Well,  possibly,  a  little." 

"  Why,  of  course,  if  one  gains  anything, 
any  prestige  even,  it  is  only  by  displacing 
some  one  else.  If  one  rises  in  the  least,  one 
must  do  so  at  the  expense  of  another.  What 
one  grasps  another  fails  to  attain.  Where  one 
succeeds  another  goes  to  the  wall.  It  is  the 
law  of  competition  which  is  so  cruel  after  all. 
The  little  people  not  tall  enough  to  seize  the 
fruit  which  hangs  from  the  highest  bough  are 
never  pleased ;  they  never  can  be  fair  to  the 
long-legged  creatures  who  reach  and  grasp." 

"  Individuality,"  he  continued,  dreamingly, 
"  is  the  torture  of  the  inquisition  to  mediocre 
minds.  They  hate  it." 

"And  yet  how  character  imposes.  Doc- 
trines and  ideas  are  less  seductive  than  they 
used  to  be.  There  is  no  faith  now,  but  one 
involuntarily  admires  any  force,  even  when 
it  is  applied  to  evil.  It  seems  to  promise 
guidance.  We  are  weak;  we  want  to  obey, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  77 

to  follow.  I  read  somewhere  the  other  day 
'Man  is  the  born  serf  of  any  strong  will 
which  passes  near  him.' ' 

"  Do  you  think  of  such  serious  things  ?" 

"  Why  not  ?" 

"  I  don't  know.  It  is  unusual.  Women  like 
you  have  rarely  the  time,"  he  said,  simply. 

He  was  looking  down  at  her  from  his  great 
height,  with  an  expression  that  was  at  once 
puzzled  and  deeply  interested.  She  was  a 
new  experience  to  him,  and  fascinating.  Her 
spirit  rose  with  its  insatiate  love  of  power,  for 
she  knew  this  expression  in  the  eyes  of  men. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  do,  nothing  that  you 
would  consider  of  the  slightest  consequence. 
I  think  about — everything." 

She  moved  a  few  steps  away  from  him  on 
the  rocks ;  he  followed  her  quickly  and  seized 
her  elbow  almost  roughly. 

"  Look !  look !"  he  said. 

To  his  amazement,  she  shook  his  hand  off 
haughtily. 

"  Oh !"  she  thought,  "  if  he  is  going  to  be 
familiar;"  but  in  a  moment  she  recognized 

7* 


78  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

that  he  had  touched  her  arm  in  ignorance, 
not  in  impertinence. 

"  I  wanted  you  to  see  that  ship  in  the  sun's 
last  rays,  but  it  is  too  late  now,  it  has  slipped 
into  the  gray.  I  beg  your  pardon.  Did  I 
offend  you  ?" 

He  could  not  imagine  why,  but  it  was  evi- 
dent she  was  annoyed. 

"  Oh,  it  was  nothing.  I  saw  perfectly." 
Then,  feeling  that  it  would  be  a  kindness  to 
give  him  a  lesson  at  once, — 

"  I  dislike,"  she  said,  "  to  be  touched." 

He  remembered  the  scene  in  the  arm-chair 
on  the  terrace  which  Mrs.  Gresham  had 
looked  at  so  complacently,  and  confessed  to 
himself  that  he  had  not  then  thought  her  a 
prude.  He,  however,  only  repeated,  "I  beg 
your  pardon,"  twirling  his  hat  in  his  hands 
much  disconcerted. 

The  dejected  mien  of  the  great  man  and  his 
attitude  as  of  a  reproved  school-boy  filled  Mrs. 
Gresham's  heart  with  a  sudden  sense  of  pleas- 
ure and  of  compunction;  she  tried  to  bring 
healing  balm  to  his  wound. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  79 

"  Oh,  the  ships,  they  pass  like  that  all  day. 
They  are  very  pretty,"  she  said,  lightly. 

"  I  have  intruded  too  long  upon  you,"  he 
answered  stiffly.  "  I  was  passing,  and  thought  I 
would  stop  for  a  moment.  I  came  over  only  for 
this  committee  to-night.  I  leave  to-morrow." 

"I  did  not  imagine  that  you  swam  the 
Hellespont  for  my  beaux  yeux"  she  said, 
smiling,  but  her  smile  was  forced.  His  can- 
dor, which  in  some  moods  would  have  been  a 
refreshment  to  her,  seemed  now  out  of  place 
and  somewhat  jarring.  To  this  he  replied  not 
at  all. 

It  was  unfortunate,  for  his  silence  went  into 
the  balance  against  him  of  that  strict  account 
which  women  keep  for  and  against  the  men 
who  occupy  them.  A  hopelessly  discordant 
note  had  been  sounded  between  them,  and 
they  parted  mutually  dissatisfied.  He  had 
seemed  less  to  her  than  on  the  first  evening, 
— naturally  enough,  for  he  was  less  in  tune 
with  his  surroundings — and  she  remained  to 
him  an  enigma  he  could  not  solve. 

"He  has  not  the  usages,"  she  said  to  her- 


80  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

self,  as  she  tripped  up  the  stairs  to  her  bed- 
room ;  and  oh  how  she  wished  a  voice  might 
be  raised  to  combat  this  assertion.  She  was 
dying  to  talk  him  over,  discuss  him. 

She  was  soon  to  be  gratified,  for  some  one 
else  was  dying  with  curiosity  to  know  what 
and  who  he  might  be. 

"  Did  the  monsieur  who  was  walking  on  the 
cliffs  find  madame  ?"  asked  Leontine. 

""What  monsieur?"  Mrs.  Gresham  knew 
perfectly  well  to  whom  her  maid  referred. 

"  I  did  not  know  him,  madame.  He  was 
very  large  and  very  polite,"  she  added,  after  a 
moment's  reflection. 

"Polite?" 

"  Yes,  he  spoke  so  amiably  and  took  off  his 
hat  to  me.  Is  it  not  strange,  madame,  how 
much  there  is  in  a  manner  ?" 

"  And  did  you  think  him  handsome,  too  ?" 
asked  her  mistress,  while  the  Frenchwoman 
unloosed  her  hair. 

"  Oh,  very,  madame !  Quite  the  type  d'hommt 
ctttbre.  Not  exactly  like  what  one  expects 
every  day." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  gl 

"  "Well,  lie  is  celebrated." 

Leontine  pricked  up  her  ears.  "  Un  ecri- 
vain  f"  This  vague  epithet  covered  for  her  a 
recognition  of  all  greatness  which  titles  and 
wealth  did  not  bestow. 

"ISTo,  un  homme  politique." 

"  Ah !"  Then,  after  a  pause,  "It  will  amuse 
madame  to  receive  him !  It  will  be  a  change." 

Then,  in  a  moment  of  weakness,  Mrs. 
Gresham  said  to  her  maid,  rather  low  and 
tentatively,  "Yes,  but  'these  men  have  not 
our  ideas." 

"  I  should  think,"  said  the  shrewd  domestic, 
"that  that  would  make  them  more  interest- 
ing. They  must  be  tout  de  meme,  very  intel- 
ligent. I  am  sure  that  this  gentleman  has 
beaucoup  de  talent." 

WTien  Mrs.  Gresham  was  ready  for  her 
guests,  her  spirits,  which  had  been  dampened, 
had  risen  again. 


82  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER  V. 

HE  came  again  three  days  later.  He 
mumbled  something  about  another  meeting 
at  the  village  two  miles  away,  which  he  was 
expected  to  address  in  the  late  afternoon. 
But  he  did  not  enlarge  upon  the  urgency  of 
this  claim,  and  Mrs.  Gresham  asked  no  ques- 
tions. 

It  was  in  the  morning  this  time,  and  the 
cliffs  were  flooded  with  the  summer  sunshine. 
He  found  the  lady  he  sought  standing  on  the 
lawn,  apparently  costumed  for  a  walk.  She 
was  all  in  white,  with  a  little  close  toque  set 
over  her  dusky  brown  hair  and  a  wide  white 
lace  umbrella  shadowing  her  face.  There  was 
a  sweet  seriousness  upon  her  lips.  He  thought 
he  had  never  seen  her  looking  so  handsome. 
Hers  was  an  elusive  sort  of  beauty ;  it  did  not 
invite  analysis,  and  there  were  people  who 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  83 

had  questioned  its  details.  Those  on  whom 
she  deigned  to  cast  her  glamour,  however,  had 
no  doubt.  She  was,  at  any  rate,  one  of  those 
women  who  never  pass  unnoticed  in  the 
world,  and  have  a  fatal  power  of  relegating 
their  sisters  to  the  background.  If  it  be  but 
a  trick,  after  all,  it  is  one  which  awakens  in 
inimical  hearts  tumults  of  impotent  rivalry; 
in  the  friendly,  emulation  and  an  effort  at 
imitation.  It  is  probably  to  its  possessor  a 
misfortune. 

She  hesitated  a  moment  when  he  accosted 
her,  as  if  to  turn  back  with  him  to  the  house, 
and  then  said, — 

"  How  would  you  like  to  walk  with  me  ?  I 
am  thirsting  for  exercise  and  air." 

"I  should  enjoy  it  above  all  things." 

They  descended  the  path  and  were  soon 
skirting  the  sea. 

"  How  lucky  I  am.  Five  minutes  later  and 
I  should  have  missed  you." 

"I  try  to  take  my  constitutional  early,  or 
a  ride  when  I  have  time.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, is  more  complicated.  It  necessitates  a 


84  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

change  of  clothes  and  the  tub  afterwards,  and, 
really,  to-day  I  could  not  lose  all  of  my  morn- 
ing." 

"You  must  have  known  how  much  I 
wanted  to  see  you  again." 

"  I  knew  no  such  thing,  and  am  inclined  to 
think  you  politicians  are  adept  silver-tongued 
deceitful  diplomats,  too." 

He  laughed.  "I  have  generally  been  ac- 
cused of  being  too  honest."  After  a  moment 
he  asked  her  if  she  were  still  alone.  He 
longed  to  make  her  talk  of  herself,  of  her  life. 

"Yes,"  she  said;  "my  lord  is  hunting  in 
the  Aroostook  country  far  away  up  in  the 
north,  and  I  am  rid  of  all  guests  until  the  end 
of  the  month." 

"  Do  guests  weary  you  ?" 

"Oh,  I  don't  trouble  much  about  them. 
Now  and  then  there  are  unpleasant  complica- 
tions. The  last  time  two  women  arrived 
twenty-four  hours  before  the  rest  of  the  party 
and  I  found  they  had  quarrelled' and  were  not 
on  speaking  terms." 

"  I  don't  doubt  you  were  equal  to  the  occa- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  §5 

eion.    You  strike  me  as  a  person  who  would 
be  mistress  of  almost  any  situation." 

"I  would  courtesy  to  you  if  I  were  not 
afraid  of  tumbling  over  the  cliffs.  Thanks! 
Why,  the  next  day  I  just  had  a  headache  and 
stayed  in  bed,  and  sent  them  word  I  was  not 
coming  down,  and  that  they  must  amuse 
themselves  together.  When  I  met  them  at 
eight  o'clock,  they  had  made  up,  and  were 
chattering  like  seventy  magpies." 

"I  wish  political  antagonisms  could  be  as 
easily  adjusted,"  he  said,  laughing.  "  I  shall 
get  you  to  teach  me  youf  Machiavellian 
methods." 

"  Oh,  you  do  not  require  any  lessons." 

He  remembered  the  scene  on  the  rocks  of 
the  other  evening,  and  looked  a  little  mis- 
chievously at  her  through  the  laces  of  her 
parasol. 

"You  give  pretty  severe  and  efficacious 
ones  sometimes  when  you  think  people  are 
too  bold." 

She  felt  herself  blushing  under  his  gaze, 
and,  to  disguise  her  embarrassment,  suggested 
8 


86  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

they  should  descend  nearer  to  the  water.  It 
was  possible  to  do  so  here ;  there  were  natural 
steps  in  the  rocks. 

He  followed  her  with  alacrity,  as  she  skipped 
from  ledge  to  ledge.  She  was  secretly  amused 
to  find  that,  while  he  kept  very  close  to  her  as  if 
to  assure  her  safety,  he  proffered  her  no  assist- 
ance, not  even  the  offer  of  conventional  finger- 
tips. The  lesson  had  sunk  deep.  It  was  absurd. 
By  and  by,  panting  a  little,  she  let  herself 
rest  on  a  stone  which  formed  a  seat  in  the 
upheaved  boulders,  pulling  her  garments 
down  with  one  hand  over  her  long,  narrow, 
daintily-shod  feet.  He  sank  to  her  side,  but 
not  too  near.  A  ledge  of  the  rocks  overhung 
them,  making,  as  it  were,  a  back  and  a  shelter 
over  their  heads. 

"  What  a  poem  this  is !" 
"  Yes,  I  often  come  here  alone." 
"  Are  you  really  fond  of  solitude,  then  ?"  he 
asked,  incredulously. 

"  Perhaps  not,  perhaps  it  is  all  pose,"  she 
said,  with  a  little  fine  point  of  irony  in  her 
voice. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  g7 

"But  you  fine  ladies  owe  yourselves  to 
others." 

"  For  Heaven's  sake  don't  call  me  that !" 

"  What  shall  I  call  you  then, — a  goddess  ?" 

"  Yes, — much  better." 

They  talked  together  for  a  half-hour,  sitting 
under  the  hot  noon  sunshine.  "What  do  people 
say  to  -each  other  on  such  occasions, — such 
people  as  were  here  ?  They  were  both  clever, 
full  of  vitality,  of  blood,  of  life.  It  is  prob- 
able their  conversation  was  not  commonplace. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  its  burden  fell  princi- 
pally upon  Mrs.  Gresham.  Mutually  drawn 
to  study  each  other,  knowing  nothing  one  of 
the  other,  they  craved  to  unravel  the  mystery, 
to  gain  that  knowledge  which  might  prove 
pain. 

They  were  an  incongruous  pair  enough : 
she  in  her  exquisite  gown,  with  that  distinc- 
tive air  of  ease  and  repose  the  world  gives  to 
its  votaries;  he  in  his  careless,  ill-fitting 
clothes,  intimidated,  fearful  of  displeasing  her, 
with  his  earnest,  honest,  beautiful  face.  He 
found  no  such  eloquence  in  the  presence  of 


88  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

her  tranquility  as  surged  so  readily  within 
him  in  the  heated  forum,  where  eager  faces 
and  coarse  hands  were  held  up  to  welcome 
and  applaud  him. 

Perhaps  to  the  sated  woman  of  fashion  this 
silence  was  all  the  sweeter.  She  may  have 
fathomed  its  secret  homage.  It  was — "  differ- 
ent." Certain  it  is  that  she  lingered.  When 
she  did  at  last  ask  him  the  hour,  she  was 
startled  to  find  it  so  late. 

"  I  too  am  a  laggard  to-day,"  he  said,  "  and 
have  wasted  too  much  of  your  time,  and 
intruded  myself,  I  fear,  at  the  wrong  mo- 
ment." 

"  Is  it  being  a  laggard  to  lie  on  a  rock  at  a 
lady's  feet?  I  thought  it  was  quite  the  re- 
verse." 

""Well,  it  is  not  the  kind  of  laggard  we 
dread  in  a  political  campaign,  surely,"  he 
answered,  smiling ;  "  those  whose  eyes  have 
to  be  rubbed  open  for  them,  who  have  to  be 
carted  to  the  polls  and  told  whom  to  vote  for. 
I  know  well  enough  what  I  want  myself,  and  go 
for  it  with  a  directness  which  may  be  selfish." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  gg 

"It  is  all  the  fault  of  this  lazy  languid 
morning,"  she  cried,  "and  not  yours,  that 
Mrs.  Gerold  has  been  kept  waiting  a  half- 
hour.  We  were  to  go  Casinoward  together. 
This  sounds  frivolous  to  you,  no  doubt,  with 
all  your  important  cares  and  occupations. 
Shall  I  he  making  you  frivolous  too  ?" 

She  asked  the  question  with  an  instinct 
of  what  seemed  to  him  the  divinest  coquetry. 

"  You  have  already,  if  it  he  frivolous  to  he 
terribly  happy !" 

They  both  remained  dumb.  The  uttered 
words  loomed  up  portentous,  a  landmark  in 
the  roadway  of  their  fate.  She  was  conscious 
of  a  swift  emotion  which  flashed  like  light- 
ning through  her  being,  leaving  behind  it  the 
glow  of  some  strange  delight. 

Gratified  vanity  is  probably  the  most  perfect 
form  of  human  enjoyment;  I  will  not  say  the 
highest.  Through  the  affections  there  is  suf- 
fering ;  and  whatever  joy  the  love  of  the  Deity 
may  bestow,  its  human  prototype  is  always 
burdened  with  fear.  A  high  authority  tells 
us  that  "  fear  hath  torment." 
8* 


90  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

After  this  they  exchanged  but  a  few  insig- 
nificant phrases  until  they  reached  the  gate 
and  she  gave  him  her  hand. 

"Good-by!  good-by." 

"  The  next  time,"  she  called  out  after  him 
from  among  her  roses,  greeting  at  the  same 
time  the  dogs  that  came  rushing  to  meet  her, 
— "Ah,  Jock !  down  Saxe ! — the  next  time  you 
must  dine." 

He  waved  an  assent  to  her  and  was  out 
of  sight. 

Still  under  the  influence  of  a  pleasurable 
sensation  which  made  her  step  unusually 
buoyant,  Constance  came  in  from  the  heat 
into  the  cool,  dim  drawing-room. 

"  Oh,  May,  I  am  so  sorry !" 

"Well,  my  dear,  I  wondered  just  how  long 
it  would  last,  and  now — I  know !" 

"  How  long  what  would  last?" 

"  Why,  your  tete-a-$te  under  the  cliff  with 
your — governor  philandering." 

"  Where  were  you,  pray  ?" 

"  Spying  over  at  you  for  quite  a  while.  It 
gave  me  a  stiff  neck.  Oh,  don't  be  alarmed, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  91 

I  didn't  borrow  the  Gaskells'  telescope. 
What  the  naked  eye  divulged  was  quite 
sufficient." 

"  What  a  goosey  you  are !" 

"  The  saddest  part  of  it  is — ugh !  how  my 
hair-pins  do  stick  into  my  cranium  !"  And 
Mrs.  Gerold  walked  to  the  mirror  and  began 
unloosening  her  veil.  "  The  worst  of  it  is 
that  the  poor  thing  takes  you  seriously." 

"Why  shouldn't  he?" 

"  Constance  Gresham,  don't  gerrymander 
that  way  with  me !  I  am  in  deadly  earnest, 
and  I  think  it  simply  brutal !" 

As  she  spoke  she  drew  out  rapidly  one  or 
two  long  pins  that  fastened  in  her  hat. 

"Dio  mio,  what  a  relief!"  she  said,  readjust- 
ing her  voilette  and  smoothing  it  down  over 
her  rather  long,  sallow  cheeks. 

"  Brutal  ?" 

"  Yes !  What  do  you  do  with  them,  Con  ? 
How  far  do  you  go  ?  Where  do  you  leave 
them  ?  I  have  often  asked  myself;  wondered 
how  good  and  how  bad  you  were !  What 
shall  you  do  with  him  ?  He  is  tragic." 


92  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

Mrs.  Gresham  had  not  decided  what  she 
would  do  with  him,  or  even  considered  the 
question  before,  but,  being  a  woman  of  quick 
resources,  replied,  laughing,  "Why,  make  him 
the  fashion !" 

"  Don't  you  know  that  you  would  be  ruining 
him  politically,  and  that  there  is  a  fierce  light 
on  him  just  now,  and  that  you  may  scorch 
your  own  pretty  little  fingers  ?" 

"I  accept  the  kindly  warning,  which  is 
of  course  the  direst  nonsense,  Madam  May. 
I  have  seen  him  exactly  three  times." 

"  Twice"  too  often  for  his  comfort,  poor 
wretch !" 

"What  did  you  think  of  him  the  other 
afternoon  ?  How  did  he  impress  you  ?" 

Constance's  curiosity  pushed  her  to  this 
imprudent  questioning.  She  thought  her 
friend  shrewd,  and  wanted  to  gauge  her 
opinion. 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  was  so  engaged 
in  wondering  how  we  impressed  him  I  had 
hardly  time  for  a  detailed  study." 

"Ah !  did  we  shock  his  majesty  ?" 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  93 

"Well,  Constance,  you  must  admit  we're 
pretty  bad !" 

"  You  mean  Geraldine  ?  I  did  myself  feel 
provoked  with  her." 

"  Oh,  Geraldine !  Yes,  and  those  men — so 
rude.  I  could  see  he  was  watching  us  and 
thought  us  a  pack  of  silly,  senseless  snobs." 

"  Was  I  uncivil  ?" 

"You?  !N"o.  I  admired  you  immensely. 
You  managed  it  all  so  nicely.  You  are 
always  a  lady,  Constance.  You  could  not  be 
vulgar.  Why,  if  you  did  a  vulgar  thing,  it 
would  straightway  look  becoming." 

"  Much  obliged.  The  compliment  is  equiv- 
ocal, but  I  take  anything  that  is  offered." 

"  You  know  perfectly  what  I  mean.  Those 
fellows  that  hang  about  you  are  not  worthy  to 
touch  your  shoestrings." 

"  They  are  harmless." 

"  That  is  just  it,  and  just  where  you  differ 
from  the  rest  of  us." 

"  So  I  am  not — harmless  ?" 

"  Not  exactly.  Why,  Constance,  what  could 
Geraldine  breathe  into  a  man,  do  you  sup- 


94  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

pose  ?  Any  deed  of  prowess  ?  Any  inspira- 
tion of  ambition?  Eh?  Any  fortitude,  or 
even  a  crime  or  two?  We  women  forgive 
men  who  are  wary  in  gallantry;  but  you 
,  know,  Connie,  we  want  them  reckless  in  love, 
don't  we  ?  See  how  eloquent  I  grow !  Ger- 
aldine !  What  a  terror  she  is,  to  be  sure. 
They  play  with  her  because  she  is  chic.  Oh, 
I  will  not  deny  that !  But  what  a  doll !  Very 
hard,  but  not  even  hard  enough  to  be  pic- 
turesquely cruel  and  unscrupulous  like  the 
wicked  woman  in  the  plays.  Just  nothing! 
You!  .  .  .  Well,"  continued  Mrs.  Gerold, 
impulsively,  "  if  a  man  cared  for  you,  Con- 
stance, I  can  imagine  it  would  be  an  in- 
ferno !" 

"  My  dear,  after  this  you  must  need  some 
refreshment.  Shall  I  ring  for  a  lemonade  ?" 

"  Oh,  laugh  at  me  if  you  will !  I  knew 
that  man  thought  us  idiots;  I  see  things." 

"That  is  evident,  but  you  won't  tell  me 
what  you  thought  of  him." 

"I  thought  him  shockingly  dressed  and 
very  interesting." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  95 

"  This,  at  last,  is  direct." 

"I  confess,  Connie,  I  can  imagine  the  be- 
ginning might  be  original.  The  second  or 
silent  stage,  my  dear,  is  always  the  same.  No 
matter  what  or  who  the  man  may  be,  he  loses 
all  conversational  power  and  becomes  a  hope- 
less bore.  As  for  the  third  stage, — the  cross, 
grumpy  condition,  when  they  want  Heaven 
only  knows  what, — it  is  simply  unendurable." 

"Mr.  Lawton  and  I  are  not  entering  into 
any  'stages.'  Do  not  be  frightened." 

"Pshaw!  Do  you  expect  me  to  swallow 
that  ?  "Why  make  him  unhappy,  Constance  ?" 
she  continued.  "  What  is  the  use  of  making 
people  unhappy  ?  I  know  it  is  generally  the 
result  of  being  unhappy  one's  self.  He  seems 
— a  good  man." 

Mrs.  Gerold  paused,  and  then  continued, 
with  a  sort  of  muffled  hopelessness  in  her 
usually  sharp-keyed  voice,  and  Constance  did 
not  interrupt  her. 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  going  to  probe  into  your 
life,  my  dear.  I  know  your  reserve ;  I  think 
it  very  delicate.  I  never  believed  you  a  happy 


96  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

woman,  with  a  mind  or  heart  at  peace,  but  I 
have  respected  you  because  you  gave  no  sign. 
Look  at  me !  I  went  marivauding  about,  pub- 
lishing my  marital  infelicities — while  they 
lasted — telling  my  woes  to  all  who  would 
listen — and  people  listen — it  amuses  them — it 
was  a  sorry  spectacle !  and,  when  I  asked  poor 
Wilbur's  pardon,  he  was  already  past  words 
of  mine,  beyond  reach." 

"You  were  sorely  tried,  May,"  said  Con- 
stance, gently,  "  and  very  young." 
•  "  Bah !  I  might  at  least  have  tried  to  cover 
up  his  faults.  I  was  not  too  young  for  that.  I 
need  not  have  been  alarmed ;  they  were  per- 
ceptible without  lenses,"  she  continued,  with 
a  sort  of  grim  humor ;  "  but  I  need  not  have 
lent  mine  to  the  community.  Why,  we  do  as 
much  for  our  servants, — say  a  good  word  for 
them!  It  would  have  been  more  decent. 
Don't  you  suppose  I  worried  him  ?  Ask  my 
sweet  mother-in-law !" 

"  Every  one  said  she  was  much  to  blame, — 
that  she  made  difficulties  for  you." 

"  Oh,   I  dare    say.     I    tried    her    severely 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  97 

enough,  and  she  was  not  one  of  the  indulgent 
kind.  I  was  not  an  angel.  Connie,  do  you 
know  I  ask  Wilbur  every  night  to  forgive 
me  before  I  go  to  sleep,  out  loud  in  the 
dark?  You  didn't  believe  that  of  me,  did 
you  ?  Do  you  suppose  he  hears  ?"  And  she 
laughed. 

But  her  eyes  met  Mrs.  Gresham's,  and  the 
two  women  contemplated  each  other  across 
the  waves  of  that  icy  sea  of  conventionality 
which  keeps  souls  barred,  locked  from  each 
other  and  apart  forever.  They  gazed  immov- 
able as  if  mutually  hypnotized.  The  harsh 
laugh  expired  upon  Mrs.  Gerold's  lips;  then 
even  the  ghost  of  a  wan  smile  died. 

Gradually  a  curious  change  came  over  her 
face, — a  tremor,  a  cloud.  The  mouth  was 
convulsed  and  the  glittering  dark  eyes  filled. 
She  did  not  cry  out  or  weep,  but  her  pale  face 
was  distorted  in  an  anguish  which  shook  Con- 
stance with  a  poignant  pity. 

She  ran  across  the  floor  and  threw  her  arms 
about  her  friend's  neck. 

""We  are  all  weak  and  erring,"  she  whis- 
=  g  9 


98  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

pered,  under  her  breath,  and  then  burst  into 
tears. 

They  remained  thus  for  a  while  clasped  in 
each  other's  arms.  Constance  offered  no  fur- 
ther word  of  consolation ;  she  knew  it  would 
be  ill-timed.  "Warm,  rough  natures  inflict 
such  upon  us  in  their  kindly  unwisdom,  but 
Mrs.  Gresham's  taste  was  unerring  in  these 
things,  even  had  her  feelings  not  been  deeply 
stirred. 

.  Mrs.  Gerold  was  the  first  to  speak.  She 
had  shed  no  tears,  and  began  to  wipe  away 
Constance's  with  her  fine  handkerchief. 

"  Forgive  me,  dear  !  Come,  let  us  go  into 
the  other  room.  Let  me  cheer  you  up  a  bit. 
Have  you  seen  the  papers  to-day  ?  They  are 
full  of  horrors,  as  usual." 

Constance  swabbed  her  eyes  and  face  and 
shook  her  head  wofully. 

"Do  you  remember  that  little  red-haired 
thing  who  came  here  last  summer, — that  Mrs. 
Christopher  somebody, — I  can  never  remem- 
ber the  creature's  name, — whom  every  one 
felt  called  upon  to  snub  and  ill-use  ? 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  99 

She  has  been  'imprudent,'  as  the  reporters 
delicately  express  it,  and  in  a  fit  of  repentance 
confessed  everything  to  her  husband." 

"  "Well  ?"  Constance  tried  to  be  interested, 
still  dabbing  at  her  eyes. 

"Well,  he  shot  the  other  gentleman, — the 
lover, — and  now  the  husband  is  in  prison.  It 
is  quite  gruesome." 

"Which  proves  what  I  have  always  said," 
and  Constance  looked  up  through  her  tears, 
"  that  fools  ought  never  to  misbehave." 

"  I  think  it  is  generally  the  clever  people 
who  do  the  silly  things." 

"Yes,  that  is  true  enough,  but  their  wit  is  a 
wedge  with  which  they  can  at  least  disen- 
tangle and  extricate  themselves." 

"  Ah !  sometimes  Mesdames  Clotho,  Lach- 
esis,  and  Atropos  step  in  and  huddle  them 
along  and  cut  the  thread  before  they  have 
time.  There  is  another  most  edifying  account 
in  the  papers  to-day  of  a  man  in  Paris  carry- 
ing off  an  American  girl." 

"  Mercy !  what  for  ?  Is  it  any  one  we 
know?" 


100  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  Ko,  I  think  not.  They  were  stopped  at 
the  station  by  her  pursuing  parent,  and  she 
was  brought  over  to  Cincinnati,  where  she 
now  resides." 

"  Fancy !" 

"  One  of  these  days  she  will  marry  some  re- 
spectable little  dry-goods  clerk,  and  oh,  when 
she  is  settled  and  blissful,  how  she  will  pine 
for  and  regret  her  foreigner !" 

"  May,"  said  Constance,  laughing  half  hys- 
terically, "  you  are  incorrigible." 

"  Ma  chdre,  it  is  written :  She  will  think,  as 
she  trundles  and  trots  the  poor  clerk's  babies, 

* 

and  darns  his  shirt-fronts,  and  pins  his  paper 
collars  on  from  behind,  that  she  was  once 
madly  loved,  a  heroine.  She  will  dream 
dreams,  and  what  dreams!  She  will  be 
lenient  to  the  memory  of  the  bold,  base  ad- 
venturer, and  think  her  excellent  husband 
does  not  '  understand  her.'  His  methods  will 
be  too  simple.  Voila  lesfemmes!  Adieu,  dear 
Con!  Take  care  of  yourself."  And  Mrs. 
Gerold  tripped  off,  giving  a  backward  push  to 
her  narrow  skirts. 


A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN  1Q1 

Constance  stood  at  the  window  watching 
her.  "And  to  think  that  in  her  heart  is  a 
passionate  remorse !" 

At  a  dinner-party  that  night  she  was  taken 
in  by  the  host.  She  usually  had  the  seat  of 
honor,  and  on  her  left  was  a  man  who  was 
uncongenial  to  her.  She  found  her  host 
equally  so,  however,  and  the  party  generally 
ill-assorted,  and  in  her  weariness  she  turned 
to  this  neighbor.  He  was  a  man  prominent 
in  finance,  in  society,  and  of  some  political  in- 
fluence. She  began  to  lay  traps  for  him  to 
mention  a  certain  name.  Few  of  her  world 
knew  Lawton  personally,  but  this  man,  she 
felt  sure,  must  have  met  him.  At  last  he  did 
speak  of  him. 

"  I  saw  Dan  Lawton  yesterday,"  he  said. 
"  He  and  his  heelers  are  on  the  stump.  An 
unscrupulous  lot  they  are." 

This  was  certainly  not  encouraging.  Having 
delivered  himself  thus  far,  he  relapsed  into  con- 
temptuous silence.  His  manner,  even  more 
than  his  words,  was  a  covert  attack. 

Mrs.  Gresham  drew  away  from  him.  She 
9* 


102  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

did  not  know  he  had  secretly  coveted  the 
nomination  Daniel  Lawton  had  secured,  and 
had  plotted  and  wheedled  for  it  and  had 
failed.  She  turned  the  subject  quickly,  re- 
membering Emerson's  warning  that  it  is  our 
own  idle  curiosity  which  gives  others  the 
power  to  wound  us.  She  instinctively  felt 
that  this  man  knew  nothing  of  Daniel  Law- 
ton,  yet  was  his  enemy.  She  could  have 
struck  him  gladly  across  his  unpleasant  pursed- 
up  lips,  yet  etiquette  forced  her  to  civility  and 
smiles  for  the  next  hour.  She  left  early,  with 
a  heart  of  lead,  her  nerves  unstrung  and  out 
of  tune.  As  she  drove  home  she  thought  how 
unjustly  we  weigh  and  judge  each  other. 
How  mean  and  petty  are  the  jealousies  of  the 
world,  and  what  tragedy  lies  underneath ! 

She  remembered  that  her  set  had  praised  her 
warmly  for  her  devotion  to  her  mother  in  the 
latter's  last  illness.  The  barbarians  of  Uganda, 
the  Dinka,  Bari,  and  Dango  tribes,  throw  their 
dying  parents  into  the  desert,  and  expose  to 
the  cruel  blasts  of  heaven  the  breasts  from 
which  they  have  sucked  in  life. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  1Q3 

Had  they  expected  her,  because  she  was  the 
child  of  luxury  and  of  pleasure,  to  do  no  better 
than  these  savages  ?  The  commendation  had 
wounded  and  angered  her,  and  she  had  even 
resented  it  once  with  scourging  sarcasm, — for 
her  honeyed  tongue  could  also  scathe.  After- 
wards she  had  been  loudly  blamed  for  not 
wearing  her  mourning  long  enough,  and  had 
thus  struck  the  balance. 

Now,  leaning  back  among  the  cushions  of 
her  open  carriage,  looking  up  at  the  calm, 
cold  stars,  wishing  that  her  unquiet  spirit 
might  drink  in  of  their  peace,  she  thought  of 
these  things,  and  of  others, — of  her  own 
wasted  energies,  of  the  man  whose  letter  she 
had  read  so  lately  throwing  away  his  youth 
because  she  had  been  vain  and  idle.  She 
looked  at  herself  less  leniently  to-night. 

"May  is  right,"  she  thought.  "I  can  at 
least  let  him  alone." 


104  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WHEN  Daniel  Lawton  disembarked  the  next 
morning  at  Ms  pier,  lie  found  his  buggy  and 
man  waiting  for  him.  The  latter  handed  him 
half  a  dozen  letters  and  telegrams,  which  he 
read  on  his  way  through  the  town.  Whirling 
along  the  street,  he  chanced  to  look  up  as  he 
passed  the  sign  of  a  new  tailor  who  advertised 
himself  as  being  a  branch  of  a  celebrated  Lon- 
don firm. 

"  I  don't  take  time  to  get  myself  clothes,  or 
to  have  my  hair  cut,  hardly.  I  have  a  great 
mind  to  stop  and  look  in  here.  I  think  Fred 
told  me  it  was  a  good  place." 

He  was  never  vacillating,  but  prompt  of 
action,  and  in  a  moment  he  had  thrown  the 
reins  to  his  servant  and  was  in  the  store.  A 
clerk  with  very  red  cheeks  and  a  waxed 
moustache  approached  him  languidly.  He 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  1Q5 

looked  narrowly,  almost  impertinently,  at  the 
new  customer,  the,  general  cut  of  whose  jib 
did  not  suggest  extravagance. 

"  How  can  I  serve  you,  sir  ?" 

Mr.  Lawton  had  for  years  patronized  a  little 
Hebrew  tailor,  who  continued  to  turn  out  his 
clothes  from  the  same  mould  with  praise- 
worthy constancy.  He  felt  some  compunc- 
tion at  this  infidelity,  and  hoped  the  poor  old 
Jew  would  never  know. 

"Measure  me  for  a  suit,"  he  said.  He 
ordered  himself  two  and  finally  three,  one  a 
rough  light  gray  for  morning  wear. 

"  You  wish  the  latest  style,  sir,  I  suppose  ?" 
asked  the  highly-colored  clerk,  eying  Mr. 
Lawton's  black  broadcloth  coat  with  ill-con- 
cealed scorn. 

"Yes,  yes,  I  suppose  so."  He  laughed  a 
little  nervously  and  shamefacedly.  "  Make 
them  in  the  fashion.  I  am  not  much  on  dress, 
as  you  see,  but  I'll  go  the  whole  figure  this 
time." 

"  Will  you  give  me  your  name,  sir  ?"  asked 
the  man ;  he  whipped  out  a  note-book  and  a 


106  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

pencil,  which  he  held  suspended  between  his 
thumb  and  index ;  "  and  I  will  fix  the  hour 
for  trying  on  early  next  week,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Lawton,  Daniel  Lawton ;  perhaps  you 
know  my  offices." 

The  heads  of  the  English  master  of  the 
establishment  and  his  book-keeper  jerked  up 
suddenly  from  their  desks.  The  former  stepped 
out  briskly. 

"Pray  be  seated,  Mr.  Lawton!  Pray  be 
seated  !  Hi  'ope  you  will  be  pleased  with  us, 
sir !  We  will  do  our  hutmost !  Hi  think,  sir, 
we  have  made  some  things  for  your  son,  sir ! 
No  one  would  hever  himagine,  to  look  at  you, 
sir,  you  could  'ave  a  son  that  hage.  A  fine 
young  gentleman,  sir,  with  a  helegant  figure!" 

"He  takes  after  his  father,"  said  Mr.  Law- 
ton  ptre,  much  amused. 

"Narrower  in  the  chest,  sir,"  murmured 
the  clerk,  who  had  become  more  flushed. 
"We  will  be  ready  for  you  Tuesday  at 
eleven." 

"  Make  it  ten,  and  I  will  get  around  early. 
I  am  very  busy." 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  107 

"  Yes,  of  course,  sir,  of  course !  any  hour 
you  wish." 

•x 

"  Would  you  like  to  look  at  some  light  cloth 
for  an  overcoat,  sir  ?  We  make  them  up  in  all 
styles  for  twelve  pounds — sixty  dollars,  I  mean, 
sir !  !N~o  ?  not  to-day  ?  This  way,  sir !  Would  you 
like  a  match  ?  Here,  Hawser !  quick !  a  light !" 

Three  clerks  darted  out  simultaneously  from 
behind  their  counters.  They  all  wanted  to 
have  a  nearer  view  of  Mr.  Lawton,  and  took 
a  long  stare. 

He  found  great  difficulty  in  making  his 
escape,  but  did  finally,  after  having  lighted  a 
cigar,  get  himself  into  the  street.  He  was  pay- 
ing the  penalty  of  his  greatness.  Later,  when 
he  reached  home,  he  found  his  wife  standing 
outside  on  the  porch,  much  disturbed  and  ex- 
cited. Fred  was  dawdling  about  with  his 
hands  in  his  pockets,  waiting  for  the  trap 
which  was  to  convey  him  to  the  station.  He 
was  going  off  with  his  chum  Blake  for  a 
week's  gunning,  and  there  was  an  endless 
array  of  gun-cases  and  cartridge-boxes  piled 
up  on  the  piazza  steps. 


108  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"Did  the  expressman  give  you  back  the 
dollar  and  a  half  change,  Kate  ?"  Mrs.  Lawton 
was  saying,  hardly  taking  time  to  greet  her 
husband. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  said  Kate,  who  was  engaged 
in  fastening  a  recalcitrant  strap.  "He  .gave 
me  back  a  dollar  and  a  half's  worth  of  impu- 
dence." 

"It  is  perfectly  abominable  the  way  that 
company  steals,"  said  Mrs.  Lawton.  "  They 
are  simply  robbers.  I  do  hope,  Daniel,  when 
you  are  governor,  you  will  put  a  stop  to  such 
things." 

"Oh,  mother,  don't  bother!"  said  Fred, 
loftily,  as  if  from  heights  where  dollar  bills 
were  plentiful  and  unimportant. 

Mrs.  Lawton  was  clad  in  a  cambric  wrap- 
per, such  as  hang,  in  the  late  summer,  at  re- 
duced prices,  out  on  sidewalks  in  front  of 
large  dry-goods  establishments.  It  may  be 
said,  however,  that  she  had  purchased  it  in 
the  season  and  at  its  original  value.  Seeing 
it  with  other  gaudier  ones,  she  had  thought 
the  color  pale  until  it  had  come  home.  It 


A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN  109 

was,  in  fact,  of  a  brilliant  saffron  pink,  and 
was  distinctly  unbecoming. 

"  Why,  Mollie !"  said  her  husband,  "  you 
look  like  a  flamingo." 

"Yes,  I  know;  I  hate  the  thing;  but  I 
wanted  to  see  Fred  off  comfortably,  and  I 
have  not  had  time  to  dress." 

"  The  way  you  mollycoddle  that  boy  is 
absurd,"  he  said,  a  little  dryly,  and  went  into 
the  house. 

At  the  dinner  she  asked  him  about  his 
meetings  over  the  bay  and  spoke  of  the  prob- 
abilities of  a  successful  election;  but  Fred's 
departure,  and  the  fear  lest  he  was  riot  provided 
with  sufficiently  warm  flannels,  and,  above  all, 
the  expressman's  guilt,  were  with  her  still,  and 
she  threw  no  eagerness  into  her  questionings. 

He  had  somehow  failed  to  speak  to  her 
of  his  first  visit  to  Mrs.  Gresham ;  he  did  not 
now  mention  the  second.  "Why  ?  Perhaps  it 
was  due  to  a  naturally  reticent  nature.  On 
that  first  evening  he  had  casually  told  her 
of  his  introduction ;  but  he  was  introduced  to 
so  many*  people  and  obliged  to  shake  so  many 
10 


HO  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

hands,  male  and  female,  that  it  made  small 
impression  upon  his  wife.  It  had  always 
bored  him ;  she  thought  it  would  continue  to 
do  so  to  the  end.  Immediately  after  dinner 
he  made  his  escape  to  his  study. 

He  looked  over  some  political  attacks  upon 
himself  in  the  journals  of  his  antagonists. 
They  were  very  mild,  and  they  failed  to  an- 
noy. It  was  difficult  to  pick  flaws  in  him. 
He  then  wrote  a  few  important  letters,  after 
which  he  tried  to  think  what  he  should  say 
on  the  morrow  at  a  meeting  of  workingmen 
that  he  was  to  address,  hut  somehow  his  brain 
refused  to  work.  It  did  not  matter  much. 
He  was  never  at  a  loss  when  the  moment 
came.  He  felt  now  a  mental  lassitude  that 
was  not  common  to  him,  and  thought  he 
would  find  the  aliment  he  required  upon  his 
book-shelves.  He  craved,  as  it  were,  to  rest 
his  spirit  upon  some  lofty  ideals,  but  even  his 
favorite  authors  failed  this  evening  to  arrest 
his  attention.  He  threw  aside  the  books  and 
began  to  think,  and  his  revery  was  one  of 
despondency.  He  asked  himself  what,  after 


A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN  HI 

all,  was  this  struggle  and  effort  for  ?  "What 
had  his  successes  brought  him  ?  How  ephem- 
eral their  joy,  how  insufficient  their  attain- 
ment !  He  was  no  pessimist,  no  sentimentalist, 
but  we  all  touch  these  moments  of  disillusion 
and  discouragement.  Now,  he  thought  to 
himself,  life  was  half  over.  Youth,  ah !  bold, 
brave  youth !  Even  that  was  gone — youth, 
which  women  adore !  His  heart  contracted  in 
sadness.  Then,  suddenly,  as  he  sat  there 
musing  over  the  worthlessness  of  earth's  best 
prizes,  a  thought  rushed  past  him  and  touched 
him  with  its  wing :  a  thought  of  rapture,  for 
which  all  else  might  well  be  jeopardized,  near 
which  all  others  paled.  He  shuddered  from 
head  to  foot. 

He  had  been  through  all  his  past  a  man 
of  energetic  principle  and  forceful,  even  ag- 
gressive, will.  He  dismissed  the  dizzy  vision, 
instantly  pushed  it  from  him,  compressed  it 
way  down  in  the  darkness  of  his  being  where 
no  one  might  suspect  and  he  himself  not 
dwell  upon  it  one  moment  more.  It  left  him 
at  peace — for  an  hour. 


112  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

But  what  are  will  and  energy,  nay,  prin- 
ciple, in  the  first  travail  of  an  awakened  pas- 
sion ?  Let  men  cavil  as  they  may.  The  river 
flows  smoothly  enough.  See  how  gently  it 
glides  between  its  flowery  banks !  But  dare 
to  dam  it  up,  and  then,  even  after  years, 
loosen  only  a  tiny  stone,  make  but  an  inch's 
rift  in  the  soil,  and  behold,  through  the  flood- 
gates the  long-pent  waters,  wild,  exultant, 
escape;  broken,  torn,  with  the  wreck  of  a 
continent  upon  its  bosom  ! 

People  prattle  of  truth,  "  The  loving 
Truth,"  they  say.  Artists  paint  her  in  her 
splendors,  crowned  with  majesty,  bearing 
aloft  in  undraped  chastity  her  lamp  of  pure 
fires,  searching  the  hearts  of  guilty  men  to 
ransom  and  redeem  them.  But  truth  is  ugly 
enough,  and  as  I  see  her  now  her  lamp  is 
turned  down,  her  garments  bedraggled,  and 
the  bright  picture  I  would  fain  show  you 
is  marred  with  smoke  and  seared  and  soiled. 

The  thought,  the  dream,  came  back  to 
Daniel  Lawton  later  as  he  lay  upon  his 
couch ;  came  back,  and  this  time  he  did  not 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  H3 

shrink  at  its  approach.  He  welcomed,  hugged, 
gloated  over  it,  the  sweet  delirium  of  it,  the 
poison  and  the  pleasure  !  He  held  it  close  to 
himself,  warming  himself  at  its  glow,  linger- 
ingly  now  in  wilful  dalliance,  until  Truth, 
weeping,  put  out  her  torch ! 


10* 


114  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SHE  had  said  she  would  make  him  the 
fashion;  he  became  the  lion  of  the  hour. 
His  family  scattered,  about  this  time,  for  a 
trip  into  the  mountains,  and  he  was  left  to  his 
own  devices.  Frequent  short  journeys  were 
necessary  in  this  interim  for  the  exigencies  of 
his  canvass.  His  home  was  unsettled.  He 
concluded  to  run  over  to  the  Goshen  house  and 
make  that  his  head-quarters  for  a  brief  season. 
It  would  be  a  sort  of  holiday,  a  respite  and  rest 
he  greatly  required, — so,  at  least,  he  said  to  him- 
self, since  Truth  had  veiled  her  face  from  him. 

And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  he  was,  in 
vulgar  parlance,  "taken  up."  "We  hear  the 
significant  expression,  and  must  accept  it 
without  explanation. 

Mrs.  Langton  fancied  him.  She  invited 
him  to  her  Saturday  evenings.  She  was  a 
dried-up  little  old  woman  who  made  the 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  H5 

sunshine  and  the  rain  in  the  coterie  over 
which  she  reigned.  People  said  she  was 
amazingly  clever,  and  she  certainly  had  a 
wicked  tongue.  She  expressed  herself  as 
much  honored  by  Mr.  Lawton's  willingness  to 
appear  at  her  soirees.  She  never  gave  her 
guests  anything  but  ices,  tea,  and  conversa- 
tion, and  liked  to  catch  distinguished  odds 
and  ends,  specimens  of  eccentric  or  foreign 
humanity,  as  a  form  of  inducement. 

Tom  Fane,  who  kept  bachelor's  hall,  gave 
Mr.  Lawton  a  reception,  and  all  the  "  smart" 
people  turned  out,  as  they  were  wont  to  do 
for  his  entertainments.  He  was  invited  to 
five  dinners  a  night;  to  coaching  parties  and 
yachting  parties;  to  luncheons,  garden  fetes, 
picnics,  and  teas.  And  he  accepted  every- 
thing, or  nearly  everything,  where  he  felt 
sure  he  should  meet  her.  Of  course  he 
knew,  and  everybody  else  knew,  it  was  Mrs. 
Gresham  who  had  launched  him,  and  people 
smiled  and  said,  "  Isn't  it  funny  ?"  Men  put 
him  up  at  their  clubs  or  took  him  off  for  a 
day's  fishing.  Fair  women  asked  him  for  his 


116  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

portrait,  almost  for  his  autograph.  Once  in  a 
while  he  said  or  did  something  that  was 
unexpected,  but  it  was  overlooked  and  ex- 
cused. The  word  "provincial"  was  never 
applied  after  the  first  ten  days  of  the  furore. 
One  caviller  insisted  that  he  said  "lady" 
where  "woman"  would  have  sufficed,  and, 
after  a  heated  discussion  one  night  at  a 
dinner  where  he  had  held  the  people  spell- 
bound for  fifteen  minutes  with  his  eloquence, 
he  suddenly  apologized  and  said,  "  I  have 
talked  too  long ;  I  must  '  quit.' '  A  young 
woman  tittered  and  whispered  to  her  neigh- 
bor she  thought  the  expression  countrified. 
Her  neighbor  replied,  vaguely,  it  was  probably 
"  western."  An  erudite  old  gentleman  who 
overheard  the  remark,  who  was  an  authority 
on  language  but  at  the  same  time  snobbish, 
and  who  always  kept  abreast  of  the  suc- 
cessful swimmer,  thought  the  expression  was 
admissible,  and,  on  the  whole,  quaint  and 
picturesque.  A  woman  who  hated  Con- 
stance, because  Jack  Gresham  had  flirted 
with  her  desperately  before  his  marriage, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  H7 

and  then  had  taken  himself  and  his  ducats 
to  another  shrine,  intimated  that  Daniel 
Lawton  said  "  Yes,  ma'am,"  when  he  ad- 
dressed a  girl  of  twenty.  Then  a  tender  fem- 
inine voice  which  was  always  raised  in  the 
defence  and  never  in  the  attack,  asserted  un- 
hesitatingly that  this  accusation  was  an  atro- 
cious libel,  but  that,  even  if  the  charge  were 
true,  it  was  only  a  trifle  old-fashioned ;  one 
who  had  so  surpassed  others  might  well  be 
forgiven  if  he  were  behind  them  in  so  insig- 
nificant a  manner. 

"  Every  one,"  she  said,  "  said  *  Yes,  ma'am' 
a  hundred  years  ago,  and  even  now  one  has 
to  use  the  words  as  an  accompaniment  to 
one's  courtesy  when  presented  to  Queen 
Victoria  or  her  daughters,  if  spoken  to  by 
these  royal  ladies." 

So  the  ripple  of  talk  ran  to  and  fro,  up  and 
down,  and  Mr.  Lawton's  social  bark  was  car- 
ried safely  over  these  little  eddies  upon  which 
so  many  are  doomed  to  instantaneous  wreck. 
He  was  at  oace  too  modest  and  too  self- 
respecting  even  to  suspect  their  existence,  and, 


118  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

more,  he  was  too  absorbed ;  for  the  temptation 
he  had  at  first  repudiated  and  then  courted 
had  become  an  obsession  of  every  hour. 
Every  moment  he  could  spare  from  his  politi- 
cal duties, — he  would  soon  have  to  start  on 
another  pilgrimage;  there  were  important 
principles  of  his  platform  he  must  explain  to 
his  more  distant  constituents, — every  moment, 
I  say,  was  spent  with  her.  People  laughed, 
thinking  the  intimacy  extraordinary,  and  it 
was  so.  All  they  knew  was  that  they  were 
happy  together.  Of  each  other's  past,  its 
associations  and  its  experiences,  they  never 
spoke.  Of  course  she  knew  vaguely  that  he 
was  a  married  man,  the  father  of  children; 
but  she  instinctively  asked  him  no  questions, 
and  he  was  silent.  Of  her  he  hardly  thought 
as  of  a  wedded  wife. 

Mr.  Gresham's  hunting  expedition  seemed 
to  have  extended  itself  indefinitely,  for  he  did 
not  return,  and  the  husband  remained  a  myth 
whose  reality  Lawton  tried  to  forget.  The 
husband,  the  worm  at  the  heart  of  the  rose ! 
He  who  should  one  day  return,  with  claims 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  H9 

and  tyrannies!  It  was  well  to  banish  him, 
blot  him  from  the  memory. 

With  a  childish  simplicity  Lawton  avoided 
looking  at  the  photographs  upon  Mrs.  Gresh- 
am's  drawing-room  tables,  at  the  portraits 
upon  her  walls,  lest  he  should  some  day  meet 
the  eyes  that  he  dreaded.  In  the  mean  while, 
nothing  could  be  more  charming  than  their 
walks,  their  talks,  their  communings.  She 
was  surprised  to  find  he  had  read  everything, 
and  that  even  the  works  of  contemporaneous 
fiction  which  interested  her  were  not  unr 
known  to  him.  His  comments  upon  them 
tallied  with  her  own  views,  but  had  some- 
thing fresh  and  vigorous  in  them,  and,  how- 
ever different  their  traditions  might  have 
been,  they  met  here  upon  the  same  ground. 
Of  art,  too,  she  was  amazed  to  find  him  an 
incisive  critic,  possessed  of  a  naturally  correct 
taste.  She  knew  that  he  could  hardly  have 
had  the  time,  in  the  stress  of  his  active  life,  to 
cultivate  aesthetics,  yet  his  artistic  perceptions 
seemed  to  her  of  no  mean  order. 

Constance  was  sitting  one  morning  under  a 


120  &  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

tree  on  her  lawn  picking  at  a  banjo  (I  regret 
that  I  can  use  no  more  impressing  verb).  She 
was  a  good  musician,  a  pianist  of  some  origi- 
nality and  sentiment ;  but  it  is  only  in  novels 
that  women  reach  the  F  above  the  line  at  the 
first  trial  and  dance  admirably  without  pre- 
paratory instruction.  "  Art  is  long,"  and 
Constance  drew  more  discords  than  harmo- 
nies from  the  instrument  upon  which  she  had 
only  lately  begun  to  experiment,  and  which 
fills  so  many  modern  drawing-rooms  with 
anxiety  and  gloom.  Fortunately,  her  audi- 
ence, an  Austrian  attache  and  a  French  first 
secretary  of  legation,  did  not  seem  harsh  cen- 
sors of  her  poor  performance,  and  applauded 
her  effort  with  fervor.  It  is  hardly  to  be  mar- 
velled at.  These  stringed  instruments  have 
the  advantage  that  they  may  be  carried  into 
the  sunlight,  and  furnish  a  lovely  woman  an 
opportunity  of  posing  under  green  boughs  in 
graceful  positions  and  picturesque  hats,  and 
with  pretty  arms  bared  to  the  elbow. 

Mrs.  Gresham  did  not  play  in  private  theat- 
ricals; her  contempt  for  the  public  had  not 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

reached  this  climax.  She  must  therefore  be 
pardoned  if  her  dramatic  instincts  found  a 
more  innocent  vent. 

Suddenly,  as  she  sat  listening  to  the  chorus  of 
praise  sung  by  her  two  foreign  visitors  and  was 
yawning  behind  her  hand  at  their  inanities, 
her  lips  parted,  her  eyes  shone,  and  her  cheeks 
flushed.  A  thought  had  struck  her.  She  cast 
aside  her  banjo,  and  fell  to  dreaming  of 
another  instrument  from  which  she  drew  no 
discords  and  on  which  she  played  with  con- 
summate address.  Practice  makes  perfect, 
and  it  is  also  an  advantage  to  have  genius. 
She  bethought  herself  now  of  a  great  heart 
which  she  held  palpitating  in  her  palm.  She 
could  feel  its  wild  throbs,  almost  listen  to  its 
pulses  under  her  fingers ;  upon  its  strings  she 
liked  to  play.  From  its  keys  Constance  could 
draw  rapturous  melody,  for  she  was  a  skilled 
artist.  With  a  woman's  keen  insight  she  had 
guessed  long  since  that  it  was  hers,  and  the 
desire  to  play  upon  it  at  this  very  minute 
grew  into  a  positive  longing. 

She  became  so  distraite  that  the  quick-witted 
v  11 


122  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

strangers  saw  they  were  importunate,  and  in 
a  few  moments  had  taken  their  leave.  On 
winged  feet  she  flew  to  her  secretary  and  had 
in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  despatched  a 
note  to  Daniel  Lawton.  For  it  may  as  well 
be  said  here  with  sorrow  that  the  good  re- 
solves which  Mrs.  Gresham  had  so  lately 
made  to  the  stars  had  melted,  like  them,  into 
the  dawn,  and  that  when  Truth  veiled  her 
face  from  Daniel  Lawton,  her  own  Recording 
Angel  covered  its  eyes  and  wept. 

This  written  message  was  one  of  those 
three-cornered  ones  that  smell  good  and  may 
mean  so  much  or  so  little.  To  Daniel  Lawton 
it  meant  exactly  that  he  was  to  dine  with  her 
that  night, — and  for  the  first  time  alone.  The 
fumes  of  it  were  in  his  brain  through  all 
of  the  summer's  day. 

When  he  presented  himself  at  eight  o'clock 
his  hostess  was  not  in  her  boudoir.  He  waited 
for  her  patiently,  for  expectancy,  which  can 
be  the  most  terrible  of  ills,  can  also  be  the 
sweetest  of  human  joys.  At  last  the  gray 
portibre  with  its  border  of  roses  was  lifted, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  123 

and  Mrs.  Gresham  crossed  the  threshold.  He 
mastered  his  agitation  with  difficulty,  but  her 
own  tranquil  greeting  had  soon  somewhat 
calmed  his  heart-beats  and  put  him  at  his 
ease.  They  had  only  time  to  exchange  a  few 
words  before  dinner  was  announced.  He  gave 
her  his  arm  across  the  numerous  drawing- 
rooms,  and  their  progress  was,  to  the  man  at 
least,  a  beatitude. 

The  dining-room  was  almost  in  darkness, 
except  the  table,  whose  gold-embroidered 
cloth,  strewn  with  flowers,  chased  silver,  rare 
porcelains,  fruits,  and  bon-bons,  was  radiantly 
illumed  by  numerous  wax-lights.  Peering 
into  the  frowning  gloom,  Lawton  thought  it 
almost  a  pity  the  splendid  apartment  should 
be  kept  so  dim.  He  himself  liked  a  room  to 
be  very  light.  He  expressed  this  opinion,  and 
she  laughed  low,  and  told  him  he  was  a  Phil- 
istine with  old-fashioned  ideas,  but  that  in 
fact  Mr.  Gresham  was.just  the  same ;  all  men 
were  alike,  afraid  of  the  dark,  like  children, 
and  when  her  husband  was  at  home  an  extra 
chandelier  was  always  lighted  for  his  benefit. 


124  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  I  am  making  the  most,"  she  added,  "  of 
my  liberty.  I  like  it  this  way  best." 

She  spoke  quite  naturally  and  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  seemed  'surprised  that  her 
remark  was  met  with  an  awkward  pause. 

They  returned  to  the  boudoir  for  their  coffee. 
She  offered  him  a  cigarette,  but  he  declined 
it,  and  the  agitation  which  had  possessed  him 
earlier  came  back  upon  him  with  redoubled 
force.  She,  on  the  contrary,  was  gay  and  ap- 
parently undisturbed.  She  rallied  and  chaffed 
him  about  his  new  r6le  as  a  man  of  fashion ; 
upon  his  social  success  and  his  conquests.  But 
he  answered  her  in  monosyllables,  and  grew 
at  last  absolutely  taciturn.  The  seriousness 
of  his  attitude  gained  upon  her  in  a  peculiar 
way.  As  his  spirits  seemed  to  dampen,  hers 
rose,  until  at  last  she  became  merry  and  even 
a  little  wild.  She  bantered  him  with  unmer- 
ciful raillery,  laying  particular  stress  upon  his 
attentions  to  a  maiden  of  thirty  summers  and 
large  fortune,  who  had  showered  him  with 
courtesies,  and  evidently  entertained  a  roman- 
tic admiration  of  his  person.  As  he  grew 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  125 

more  and  more  gloomy,  she  grew  more  and 
more  light.  She  was  probably  intoxicated 
with  the  sense  of  her  own  charm.  She  felt 
that  every  movement  of  her  lips,  every  shrug 
of  her  shoulders,  every  quiver  of  her  eyelids, 
every  intonation  of  her  voice,  with  all  its 
joyous  and  pathetic  cadences,  every  curve  of 
her  hand  and  wrist  as  she  raised  them  or  they 
lay  upon  her  lap,  were  eagerly  marked — nay, 
devoured — by  the  silent  man  who  sat  beside 
her;  and  she  was  secretly  filled  with  pleasure 
that  she  could  thus  beguile  him. 

Judge  her  not  too  harshly !  Women  who 
have  no  turn  at  philanthropy,  are  not  pos- 
sessed of  genius,  and  who  love  power,  have 
but  this  arena.  Had  he  been  bolder,  she 
might  have  been  more  prudent,  but  his  re- 
spectful homage  awakened  in  her  a  childish 
temerity.  He  did  not  even  venture  to  ap- 
proach her,  sitting  at  some  distance  across  the 
shaded  room,  with  only  that  sombre  fire  grow- 
ing in  his  eyes.  She  felt  so  sure  of  him  now ; 
he  was  such  a  gentleman.  Ah!  they  might 
say  what  they  would,  he  was  that. 
11* 


126  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

I  think  that  his  Satanic  Majesty  himself 
sends  a  special  messenger  sometimes  to  pre- 
side over  a  woman's  toilet,  to  peep  and  hide 
and  beckon  in  the  plait  of  a  dress,  in  the 
curve  of  a  girdle,  on  the  end  of  a  shoe,  in  a 
coil  of  hair.  Had  the  bold  imp  some  hand  in 
arraying  Constance  for  this  hour  ? 

She  wore  a  gown  cut  very  low,  as  was  the 
fashion  of  the  moment,  displaying  her  beau- 
tiful arms  and  glowing  bosom.  It  fell  in  rich 
folds  of  golden  satin  close  to  her  long  rounded 
limbs,  making  her  every  motion  a  rhythm  of 
charm.  The  dress  became  her,  toning  down 
her  rich  color,  and  casting  up  strange  lurid 
reflections  into  her  eyes.  A  woman's  talk  is 
more  brilliant  when  she  is  conscious  of  look- 
ing her  best. 

As  time  sped  on,  however,  she  could  not 
have  told  why,  her  own  spirits  began  to  flag 
and  falter.  A  certain  restlessness  of  his  con- 
tinued quietness,  a  sense  of  uneasiness  and  of 
danger  in  an  atmosphere  which  seemed  to 
grow  a  little  stifling.  Perhaps  she,  who  was 
never  maladroit,  had  teased  him  long  enough ; 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  127 

perhaps  she  had  gone  too  far  and  wounded 
him.  She  disliked  the  thought.  At  last,  glad 
of  any  change,  she  made  an  excuse  to  rise 
and  ring  for  a  glass  of 'water,  but,  as  she  did 
so,  he  also  sprang  to  his  feet.  It  was  too  late 
for  her  to  shrink  from  him.  All  the  pent-up 
fierceness  of  the  years  was  raging  in  him  now. 
If  she  had  wished  to  rouse  him,  she  had  suc- 
ceeded. She  had  only  time  to  take  a  step  or 
two  backward  in  her  newly-awakened  fear 
when  he  had  her  by  the  wrists.  He  held 
them  as  if  in  a  clasp  of  iron,  and,  as  he  did 
so,  he  looked  down  upon  her  as  a  keeper  does 
at  the  creature  he  will  tame. 

Constance  knew  she  had  met  her  master, 
and  had  neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to 
struggle  or  to  stir.  After  holding  her  thus  in 
his  grasp  of  steel  for  a  moment,  speechless,  he 
drew  her  to  him  with  indescribable  violence, 
and  stooped  as  if  to  seek  the  warm,  soft  lips 
of  the  temptress ;  but  suddenly,  and  with  an 
exclamation  of  terror,  he  threw  her  from  him, 
and,  picking  up  his  hat,  which  lay  at  hand, 
almost  ran  from  her  presence.  She  tottered 


128  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

and  would  have  fallen,  had  she  not  clutched  a 
neighboring  chair,  but  her  high  heels  were 
no't  made  for  such  exercises,  and  in  her  un- 
steadiness her  head  rolled  against  the  wall. 
She  sat  down,  with  her  hands  over  her  heart, 
trying  to  quell  its  tumults.  Her  blood  ran 
riot  in  her  veins,  and  the  thought  uppermost 
in  her  was,  "  I  have  never  known  such  joy !" 

It  is  not  every  lover  that  throws  one  against 
the  wall. 

She  was  fastidious,  refined — for,  after  all, 
she  was  a  haughty  woman,  or  rather  was  pos- 
sessed of  that  form  of  pride  which  gives  the 
illusion  of  force ;  yet  she  who  had  so  resented 
the  first  touch  of  his  hand  upon  her  arm  when 
she  had  stood  on  the  rocks,  and  thought  him 
guilty  of  familiarity,  was  neither  shocked  nor 
angered  now. 

"Women  prefer  brutality  to  coldness ;  and  all 
great  feeling  dominates.  A  famous  Russian 
writer  tells  us  that  so  enormous  is  the  power 
of  a  genuine  passion  that  a  woman  who  hated 
the  man  who  so  loved  her,  and  knew  her  visit 
to  him  would  mean  death,  yet  went,  drawn  to 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  129 

him  by  some  incomprehensible  fascination,  to 
meet  it  at  his  hands. 

Up  in  the  mountains  the  next  day,  Mrs. 
Lawton  and  Clemence  were  sunning  them- 
selves on  the  piazza  of  the  hotel. 

"  I  have  letters  from  Fred  and  from  your 
papa,  Clem,"  said  Mrs.  Lawton. 

"Well,  I  hope  they  are  having  a  better 
time  than  I  am ;  that  is  all  I  can  say."  Miss 
Clem's  tone  was  disconsolate.  She  had  not 
yet  taken  her  elder  brother's  advice  as  to 
modulating  it. 

"  Why,  papa  is  quite  gay,  going  out  a  great 
deal ;  and  do  you  know,  Clem,  he  has  been  to 
the  Greshams', — to  that  Mrs.  Gresham's  you 
are  always  chattering  about." 

It  had  been  easy  enough  to  write  of  it  casu- 
ally. Of  course  Mrs.  Lawton  had  heard  of 
"  Sea  Mew."  The  papers  were  full  of  its 
beauties,  the  purity  of  its  architecture,  the 
correctness  of  its  landscape  gardening. 

Young  America  is  still  dazzled  at  her  own 
prowess.  She  puffs  herself,  and  struts  and 
swaggers  and  advertises. 


130  4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  Oh,  dear !  I  wish  it  was  me,"  said  Clem- 
ence. 

"Nonsense,  child!  Do  you  suppose  Mrs. 
Gresham  would  trouble  herself  with  a  little 
school-girl  like  you  ?" 

"Hurry  up  and  call  me  that,  mammy;  it 
won't  last  much  longer." 

"  No,  it  won't,"  and  Mrs.  Lawton  sighed. 

"  Why  do  you  sigh,  ma  ?" 

"  Oh,  because  I  loved  my  babies,  and  they 
will  soon  all  be  men  and  women.  Well,  I  am 
glad  your  papa's  resting.  He  needed  it;  he 
looked  worn  out." 

"  So  he  knows  that  Mrs.  Gresham  ?  Well, 
I  have  always  noticed  the  good  things  hap- 
pened to  people  who  didn't  care  a  picayune 
about  them." 

"You  seem  to  think  Mrs.  Gresham  quite 
wonderful.  What  do  you  know  about  her  ?" 
said  Mrs.  Lawton,  smiling. 

"Well,  she  is  wonderful.  I  hope  to  be 
exactly  like  her  some  day.  Who  knows? 
When  papa's  governor,  perhaps  I  shall  marry 
a  swell !" 


A   SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  Clem !"  said  her  mother,  frowning,  "  I 
don't  like  that  kind  of  talk.  I  don't  want 
your  head  running  on  beaux.  You  must 
think  of  your  studies." 

Miss  Clem  made  a  wry  face.  ""Well, 
mammy,  it  is  the  truth  that  old  people  get  all 
the  fun  and  don't  care  a  bit  about  it.  They 
enjoy  things  in  such  a  tiresome,  dull  sort  of 
way." 

"I  suppose  you  think  me  and  your  father 
very  old,  but  we  don't  feel  so,  and  you  won't 
when  you  are  our  age." 

"  I  think  you  are  just  sweet,  mammy,  and 
you  don't  look  old,  and  you  cannot  look  cross, 
even  if  you  try  ever  so  hard." 

Mrs.  Lawton  shook  her  head. 

"When  papa's  governor  you  will  have  to 
go  out  in  society  more,  won't  you,  ma?  Can 
I  have  a  low-necked  dress,  please,  please  ?" 

"  We  will  see.     He  must  be  elected  first." 

"  Oh,  it's  a  walk-over ;  everybody  says  so," 
said  Miss  Clem,  sententiously.  She  had  infinite 
confidence  in  her  father's  lucky  star.  "  Why, 
Marcus  M.'s  just  trembling  in  his  shoes !" 


132  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LEAVING  a  letter  for  Mrs.  Gresham,  Lawton 
had  departed.  It  is  the  fashion  of  the  day  to 
laugh  at  all  romance  and  to  say  that  love  is 
out  of  date.  Yet  we  know  that  there  are 
rugged  soils  in  which  it  still  may  nourish; 
that,  while  in  a  heart  like  Constance's,  which 
has  wasted  its  strength  in  futile  coquetries,  the 
flame  may  at  its  best  hum  but  fitfully,  Law- 
ton's  was  still  capable  of  all  its  height  of 
sacrifice,  all  its  depth  of  tragic  despair. 

His  letter  moved  her  to  tears.  With  the 
intense  humility  of  all  deep  natures,  his  poor 
heart  floundered  hopelessly  in  the  throes  of 
this  new-born  sentiment.  He  implored  her 
pardon  for  having  looked  a  moment  up  from 
the  flatness  and  dreariness  of  his  own  exist- 
ence to  the  poetry  and  beauty  of  her  own. 
He  poured  out  at  her  feet  all  the  richness  of 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  133 

an  idolatry  that  expected  nothing  and  asked 
for  less.  She  carried  the  missive  about  with 
her  for  two  days,  in  her  dress,  close  to  her 
bosom.  There  are  hymns  of  worship  which 
women  find  it  hard  to  destroy. 

On  his  distant  round  of  political  speech- 
making  his  audiences  were  more  than  ever 
persuaded  of  his  rare  gifts.  The  topics  he 
was  obliged  to  present  to  them  were  practical 
and  hard  enough,  but  it  may  be  that  a  ray  of 
the  martyrdom  that  he  suffered — for  he  had 
sworn  to  conquer  himself — pierced  through 
even  their  unpromising  dryness.  He  was 
never  more  scathing  in  denouncing  corrupt, 
dishonorable,  and  crooked  methods;  his  in- 
vective was  never  more  scorching,  keen,  and 
withering ;  his  exhortations  to  courage,  man- 
fulness,  and  vigilance  -more  noble.  People 
trembled  under  the  magnetism  of  his  eye  and 
voice,  and  came  out  and  looked  at  one  another, 
and  said,  "This  is  genius;"  for  there  was 
something  in  the  man  that  impressed  them 
strangely,  with  a  hint  as  of  some  dark  fore- 
boding. Later  this  was  remembered  and 

12 


134  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

commented  upon  by  his  friends,  those  party 
leaders  whose  enthusiasm  for  him  had  known 
no  bounds,  and  some  of  whom  had  accompa- 
nied him. 

Two  weeks  had  passed,  and  Mrs.  Gresham 
was  resting  on  the  terrace  one  afternoon  after 
her  horseback  ride,  when  her  friend  May 
Gerold  was  announced. 

"  Where  in  the  world  have  you  kept  your- 
self all  this  time,  Madame  May?  "We  have 
had  never  a  sight  of  your  beloved  visage. 
Dear  me !  what  a  smart  gown !" 

"  I  am  grateful  that  you  notice  my  absence 
and  glad  you  admire  my  frock.  I  have  been 
across  the  water,  stopping  at  the  Ramseys'.  I 
came  back  an  hour  ago,  and  only  wonder  I 
lived  to  come  back  at  all." 

"So  bored?" 

"  To  extinction !  The  most  tiresome  lot  of 
men, — perfect  jackasses, — and  the  women  not 
much  better.  Even  Geraldine  was  a  comfort. 
She  is  at  least  larky  enough  to  keep  one  awake. 
What  have  you  been  about  over  here  ?" 

"  Oh,  the  everlasting  treadmill ;  the  same 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  135 

old  round !  But  this  is  the  end ;  the  season  is 
over.  I  too  have  been  bored  unto  death." 
Constance  said  the  last  words  fervently. 
"Jack  returns  to-morrow,  and  Wednesday  I 
am  expecting  a  house-party  of  fourteen.  Mrs. 
Langton  gives  a  ball  on  Tuesday,  the  Days' 
musicale  is  on  Monday ;  et  voila  !" 

"  A  ball  ?  How  extraordinary !  So  late  in 
the  season." 

"  Mrs.  Langton  thinks  she  will  have  fewer 
undesirable  people." 

"  And  where  is  Mr.  Lawton  ?" 

To  her  question  Mrs.  Gresham  replied,  in- 
differently, "How  should  I  know?"  and  gazed 
at  the  view  as  if  Daniel  Lawton  was  a  wraith 
who  had  vanished  into  the  ambient  ether. 

Mrs.  Gerold  had  not  enjoyed  her  trip,  and 
had  grave  doubts  of  the  Turkish  minister's 
fidelity  during  her  absence.  She  felt  rather 
cross. 

""Well,  I  know,  then,  for  I  saw  him  this 
morning." 

Mrs.  Gresham's  heart  gave  a  leap,  but  she 
managed  to  conceal  her  perturbation,  and 


136  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

only  inquired,  calmly,  "Ah,  really!  What 
was  he  about  ?" 

"  Kissing  his  wife." 

"  That  must  have  been  an  edifying  spectacle 
in  public,"  forcing  a  smile,  which,  it  must  be 
confessed,  was  rather  a  feeble  effort. 

"  I  thought  myself  that  the  time  and  place 
were  ill-chosen,  but  there  they  were,  kissing 
each  other,  according  to  their  lights.  He  was 
in  the  railway-station,  and  she  and  a  lot  of 
children  were  getting  out  of  the  cars.  I  sup- 
pose he  had  come  to  meet  them." 

"  What  dress  shall  you  wear  to  Mrs.  Lang- 
ton's,  May  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Gresham,  abruptly. 

"  My  swagger  gown,  my  mauve  and  silver." 

"  I  wouldn't  advise  you  to,"  said  her  friend, 
dryly.  "  It  is  not  becoming." 

"  Not  becoming !  Well,  that  is  a  crusher ! 
Why,  I  thought  myself  simply  angelic  in 
mauve." 

"  My  dear,"  and  Mrs.  Gresham  shook  her 
head  decidedly  and  laughed  a  little  discord- 
antly, "  that  is  an  illusion  which  had  better  be 
dispelled  at  once.  You  are  too  brune  for 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  137 

those  light  lilac  shades.  I  should  strongly 
recommend  you  to  keep  to  your  black." 

"  I  do  think,  Constance," — Mrs.  Gerold  was 
almost  crying, — "this  is  the  most  unkind 
thing  I  ever  heard  you  say.  Why,  it  was  you 
yourself  who  insisted  on  my  ordering  that 
gown,  which  has  nearly  ruined  me,  and  that 
every  one  admires." 

"  I  have  not  the  slightest  recollection  of  the 
fact,"  said  Mrs.  Gresham,  leaning  back  lan- 
guidly with  half-shut  eyes;  "but,  if  I  did, 
je  vous  ai  mis  dedans, — that  is  all  I  can  say. 
As  to  people — they  do  tell  such  lies." 

"You  are  disagreeable  to-day,  Connie.  I 
think  I  had  better  leave  you." 

Mrs.  Gerold  rose  stiffly.  Mrs.  Gresham 
entered  no  protest. 

"  I  do  verily  believe,"  continued  the  young 
widow,  lingering,  "that  you  are  angry  at 
what  I  said  about  Mr.  Lawton." 

"  What  has  Mr.  Lawton  to  do  with  your 
gown  ?"  asked  Constance,  with  some  asperity. 

"A  good  deal,  I  fancy.  Before  I  depart, 
Connie,  don't  you  want  to  hear  what  his 

12* 


138  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

frau  looks  like?"  Mrs.  Gerold  went  on,  pro- 
vokingly. 

"  Certainly,  if  it  amuses  you,  but  I  cannot 
be  expected  to  take  the  same  interest  in  men's 
— harems  that  you  do." 

Mrs.  Gerold  winced.  The  thrust  was  ungen- 
erous, and  Constance  was  ashamed  of  herself. 

The  surgeon  will  tell  you  that  if  you  but 
touch  upon  certain  nerves  the  most  heroic 
patient  must  writhe  and  scream ;  and  a  young 
warrior  of  my  acquaintance,  who  had  faced 
bullets  upon  the  field  of  battle,  once  was 
known,  in  the  tortures  of  the  dentist's  chair, 
to  seize  the  innocent  author  of  his  sufferings 
by  the  throat  and  inflict  upon  him  corporeal 
punishment  of  such  severity  that  the  poor 
little  doctor  cried  out  for  mercy. 

"  Let  me  see !"  Mrs.  Gerold  screwed  a  sin- 
gle eye-glass  into  her  left  eye  and  gave  her 
friend  an  exhaustive  stare.  "  She  is  taller 
than  you  are,  Connie, — nearly  twice  your 
height.  I  should  say  a  regular  stunner,  a 
regular  beauty ;  a  high  stepper,  like  that  sor- 
rel mare  you  wanted  Jack  to  get  you  last 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  139 

year.  She  has  Circassian  eyebrows  and  Ori- 
ental eyelashes,  a  Grecian  nose  and  an  Egyp- 
tian chin,  a  slender  waist,  a  full  bust,  and  the 
voice  and  gestures  of  a  houri.  I  tell  you  what, 
my  dear,  the  possessor  of  such  charms  is  a 
lucky  fellow !  Ta-ta !" 

Constance's  sense  of  humor,  which  was  or- 
dinarily keen,  found,  unfortunately,  no  food 
in  this  comprehensive  description. 

When  Mrs.  Gerold's  brougham  crunched 
away  upon  the  gravel,  she  gave  an  audible 
sigh  of  relief  and  of  contemptuous  displeas- 
ure. Yet  ridicule  is  so  paralyzing  a  weapon 
that  the  measure  of  her  vexation  hardly 
reached  the  height  of  what  her  late  tormentor 
would  have  called  "  a  fit  of  the  tragics." 

She  slowly  unfastened  two  buttons  of  her 
summer  riding-dress  and  drew  a  letter  from 
her  breast.  She  held  it  hesitatingly  for  a 
moment  in  her  hands,  turned  it  this  way  and 
that,  and  then,  angrily  murmuring,  "  Bah ! 
so  much  for  love  and  for  friendship  !"  tore  it 
into  a  hundred  pieces. 

"  I  wonder,"  she  thought,  bitterly,  "  if  any 


140  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

other  soul  is  as  lonely  as  mine.  Ever  since 
early  childhood  I  have  felt  the  isolation. 
What  is  the  matter  with  me  ?  I  seem  inca- 
pable of  single,  simple  emotions.  Those  I 
love  offend  my  taste,  and  where  I  have  hated 
I  have  always  pitied.  Is  it  the  fault  of  my 
own  temperament  ?  Am  I  too  fastidious, 
and  are  not  such  subtleties  weaknesses  ? 
We  chatter  of  sympathy:  what  is  it?  To 
suffer  together?  Who  truly  suffers  with 
us?"  She  should  have  known  that  a  high 
civilization  is  never  obtained  without  a  cor- 
responding loss  of  robustness.  A  sense  of 
mortification  and  wounded  vanity  lingered 
with  her  through  the  day,  mingled  with  a 
sentiment  which  was  at  once  more  poignant 
and  less  unworthy. 

Mrs.  Gerold  in  the  mean  while  laughed 
heartily  but  not  very  good-naturedly  at  the 
picture  she  had  drawn.  The  quiet,  plump 
matron  she  had  seen  descending  from  the 
drawing-room  car  and  claiming  a  perfunc- 
tory conjugal  greeting  was  so  unlike  her 
portrait ! 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

Twelve  hours  before,  while  returning  from 
his  own  wanderings,  Lawton's  eyes  had 
chanced  to  rest  on  the  pages  of  a  weekly 
journal  which  he  had  hardly  ever  before 
opened.  A  young  woman  who  had  occupied 
in  the  train  the  half  of  his  seat,  and  had 
perused  its  contents  with  a  feverish  avidity, 
had,  on  alighting  at  her  station,  left  it 
behind  her.  He  had,  indeed,  heard  the 
paper  spoken  of  as  a  social  sheet  which 
battened  like  a  parasite  on  the  wounds  which 
it  inflicted.  Its  politics  were  hazy  and  vari- 
able, following  the  evil  humors  of  its  editor. 
Its  literary  criticisms  were  probably  bought. 
As  he  flicked  over  its  pages  carelessly,  pages 
filled  with  cruel  personal  allusions,  low  in- 
nuendoes, and  obscene  jests,  he  wondered 
what  attraction  it  could  have  had  to  the 
sweet-faced  girl  who  had  sat  beside  him.  You 
see,  he  was  a  simple-minded  person,  and 
he  associated  maidenhood  with  a  love  for 
the  poetic  and  the  beautiful.  This  gross 
materialism  held  his  attention  with  a  mix- 
ture of  curiosity  and  disgust. 


142  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

Suddenly,  as  Mr.  Lawton  was  about  to 
throw  the  paper  aside,  his  eyes  became 
arrested  by  a  heading  in  larger  type  than 
the  rest:  "Mrs.  Slack  Dresham's  New  Lap- 
dog."  He  read  it  from  beginning  to  end. 
Under  the  name  of  Dawton  he  was  made  to 
dance  for  the  public.  And  what  a  dance  it 
was !  Everything  that  the  most  venomous 
political  rivalry  might  have  inspired,  every- 
thing that  the  most  petty  personal  rancor 
and  spite  could  have  invented,  was  heaped 
upon  him  in  coarse  freedom,  and  under 
the  faintly  disguised  names  hardly  a  detail 
of  his  late  social  experiences  escaped  or 
failed  to  be  held  up  to  merciless  ridicule. 
His  political  creeds  and  methods,  his  dress, 
his  appearance,  but,  above  all,  his  social 
triumphs,  were  minutely  recorded,  and  be- 
came the  target  for  a  hundred  poisoned 
arrows. 

His  vanity  and  self-love  were  not  inordi- 
nate, and  he  could  have  laughed  in  scorn 
but  for  the  dragging  in  of  Her.  He  was 
malignantly  called  the  new  lapdog,  whom 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  143 

she  had  cajoled  and  petted;  had  made 
absurd  at  the  moment  of  all  others  when 
the  world's  eyes  were  upon  him.  That 
which  had  heen  to  him  of  ineffable  sweet- 
ness, an  experience  at  once  refined  and 
profound,  was  made  the  subject  of  vulgar 
arid  ribald  jests.  Of  his  wife  it  was  kindly 
said  that  in  the  new  role  of  man  of  fashion 
he  bad  forgotten  the  partner  of  his  early 
obscurity, — the  village  girl  who  had  once 
been  good  enough  for  him,  but  whom  he 
had  now  far  surpassed.  She  had  been  left 
to  darn  her  stockings  in  desolation  by  the 
desecrated  hearth,  while  his  head  lay,  like 
Samson's,  on  his  new  Delilah's  knees. 

To  people  of  true  sensitiveness  such  things 
are  terrible.  That  a  creature  like  Constance 
should  be  held  up,  almost  by  name,  to 
public  opprobrium — he  knew  that  hundreds 
would  read  and  understand — filled  him  with 
a  rage  all  the  more  violent  that  he  knew  it 
was  impotent.  His  own  part  in  the  per- 
formance seemed  to  him  both  heinous  and 
horrible.  Whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  she 


144  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

had  embodied  for  him,  in  the  brief  summer 
days  that  were  over,  everything  that  a  woman 
could  of  delicacy  and  of  loveliness.  He  had 
perhaps  overrated  her.  Who  can  say?  He 
who  has  no  such  illusions  is  indeed  poverty- 
stricken.  Daniel  Lawton  had  for  the  first 
time  in  his  existence  tasted  of  a  draught 
which,  if  it  be  indeed  poison,  is  of  a  flavor 
so  exquisite  that  it  would  make  death  wel- 
come ;  he  had  smelled  for  one  moment  of  that 
sombre  flower  whose  perfume  leaves  undying 
memories. 

During  his  drive  homeward  with  his  wife 
and  daughter,  whom  he  had  gone  to  meet  a 
few  hours  later,  with  his  habitual  courtesy,  he 
told  Mrs.  Lawton  he  had  an  invition  for  a  ball 
for  her. 

"  Oh,  mamma,  mamma,  you  must  go !" 
cried  Clem,  clasping  her  hands.  "  I  will  dress 
you!" 

He  had  found  a  card  from  Mrs.  Langton, 
and  had  immediately  resolved  to  go  to  this 
ball,  and  take  his  wife  with  him.  He  had 
written  and  told  the  old  lady  that  Mrs.  Law- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  145 

ton  would  be  at  home  on  the  day  mentioned, 
and  she  had  by  return  mail,  with  effusive 
apologies,  sent  another  card. 

He  thought  his  wife  a  perfect  lady,  and  he 
blamed  himself  for  having  given  the  world  a 
chance  to  doubt  it.  He  repented,  I  am  sorry 
to  add,  of  nothing  else.  He  knew  she  was  a 
woman  to  whom  a  low  thought  or  coarse 
word  would  be  impossible,  a  woman  before 
\vhom  they  would  expire  upon  lips  fain  to 
utter  them.  He  remembered  that  some  of 
the  ladies  of  fashion  he  had  met,  and  who 
might  criticise  her, — he  was  not  dull  of  per- 
ceptions,— were  less  fastidious  and  might  well 
emulate  her  in  this. 

The  invitation  was  accepted,  Clemence 
having  persuaded  her  mother  that  the  coming 
glories  of  gubernatorial  precedence  would 
necessitate  certain  social  efforts  and  conces- 
sions. Early  the  next  morning  Mrs.  Lawton 
sought  her  husband's  study,  with  anxious 
wrinkles  upon  her  usually  smooth  forehead. 

"  Do  I  disturb  you,  dear  ?" 

He  looked  up  wearily.  "  Not  at  all."  He 
o  k  13 


146  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

had  been  perusing  all  the  morning  a  discur- 
sive treatise  on  the  tariff  laws. 

"  I  want  to  ask  your  advice ;  you  will  think 
it  unimportant."  Mrs.  Lawton  was  depre- 
cating. "  Daniel,  do  the  ladies  wear  very  fine 
clothes  at  the  Goshen  house  ?  Are  they  very 
dressy  ?" 

"I  didn't  see  any  la — any  women  at  the 
hotel  excepting  in  very  plain  things,  my 
dear;  travelling  gowns  mostly.  All  the  so- 
ciety, you  know,  is  outside  at  the  villas  and 
cottages,  and  they  are  very  fine  indeed,"  he 
explained. 

She  sighed.  "  Oh,  yes,  of  course ;  I  knew 
that.  I  didn't  suppose,"  she  continued,  tenta- 
tively, "that  my  brown  satin  would  do. 
Clem  says  the  waist  is  too  high.  Do  they 
wear  low  waists  to  everything?" 

"  Pretty  low,  it  struck  me,"  said  Mr.  Law- 
ton,  laughing,  and  at  the  same  time  some 
recollection  made  the  blood  rise  suddenly  up 
under  his  hair,  and  he  fidgeted  a  little  ner- 
vously in  his  chair. 

"  You  see,"  she  continued,  "  I  have  so  little 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  147 

time.  But,"  she  added,  smiling  at  him,  "I 
don't  want  to  disgrace  you,  dear." 

He  winced.  "  By  all  means,"  he  said,  hur- 
riedly, and  rather  huskily,  "  get  a  new  dress, 
and  at  once."  Something  which  he  gulped 
down  would  come  up  in  his  throat.  "You 
can  have  all  the  money  you  want.  Fix  your- 
self up  handsomely,  Mollie ;  don't  stint  your- 
self in  the  expense." 

He  spoke  as  cheerily  and  kindly  as  possible, 
and  the  thought  passed  through  her  mind  how 
different  he  was  from  many  husbands.  He, 
too,  so  clever  and  wonderful. 

The  flush  had  left  him  and  his  face  was 
pale." 

""Well,"  she  said,  "I  will  order  the  car- 
riage, and  Clem  and  I  will  drive  into  town,  to 
Madame  Elise's.  She  must  be  made  to  get 
me  up  something  in  three  days." 

She  thought  it  was  rather  a  pity  to  discard 
the  brown  satin,  which  was  very  handsome, 
and  had  a  train,  and  was  trimmed  with  real 
lace ;  but  Clem  had  positively  insisted  that  it 
was  not  full  dress. 


148  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"I  will  put  it  in  the  trunk,  in  case  we  stay 
several  days,  or  are  asked  to  dine  out,"  she 
thought. 

"  Oh,  by  the  way,  Daniel," — she  put  her 
head  into  the  door  again, — "  I  wish  you  would 
step  to  the  stable  and  see  the  new  mare. 
They  have  put  her  into  the  box  stall.  She'll 
do  splendidly  for  the  buggy.  The  man  says 
she  is  very  fast  in  single  harness.  She  is 
spirited,  he  says,  but  gentle,  and  I  think  you 
will  find  her  convenient  in  the  mornings." 

The  autumn  had  declared  itself  rainy.  The 
weather  was  lowering.  It  had  poured  steadily 
for  nearly  a  week,  and  the  tides  were  extraor- 
dinarily high. 

Madame  Elise,  as  she  measured  Mrs.  Law- 
ton,  asked  if  Madame  had  heard  that  the  old 
dock  under  Harbor  hill,  where  people  went 
of  a  Sunday  afternoon,  had  been  swept  away, 
and  that  even  the  cliffs  were  more  or  less 
undermined.  Then  they  chattered  of  ribbons 
and  embroideries,  and  storms  and  tides  were 
alike  forgotten. 

When  the  new  gown  came    home,   Mrs. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  149 

Lawton  tried  it  on,  with  two  neighbors  who 
had  .dropped  in,  Clemence,  and  Kate  the 
housemaid  in  attendance.  It  was  voted  "  very 
becoming"  and  a  great  success.  It  was  indeed 
suitable  and  rich.  It  was  a  heavy  violet  silk 
relieved  with  white  lace,  somewhat  cut  away 
about  the  shoulders,  and  with  sleeves  which 
met  the  long  gloves,  which  had  been  pro- 
vided for  the  occasion,  a  little  above  the 
elbow.  The  ingenious  Frenchwoman  had 
combined  all  the  requirements  of  fashion  and 
of  her  conservative  customer. 

Clemence  was  wildly  excited.  No  debutante 
at  her  first  party  could  have  had  a  "  send-off" 
of  more  promise  than  this  mother  of  a  family. 
A  handsome  white  lace  fan  was  produced. 
There  were  pretty  slippers,  and  even  violet 
hose ;  and  Clem  exclaimed,  "  Well,  ma,  you 
are  just  complete !"  while  Kate,  at  the  door- 
way, emphasized  her  admiration  by  repeated 
exclamations  that  "  Mrs.  Lawton  would  be 
the  beautifulest  belle  at  the  ball." 

Alas  for  human  prophecies  and  their  mea- 
gre fulfilments ! 

18* 


150  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 


CHAPTER   IX. 

the  night  of  the  ball  arrived,  the 
storm  was  raging  with  a  fury  that  made  the 
gas-lights  in  front  of  the  hotel  flare  and  blink 
like  the  eyes  of  old  age.  The  torrents  of  rain 
lashed  against  the  window-panes  of  Mrs.  Law- 
ton's  whitewashed  bedroom  until  their  sashes 
shook  and  moaned  under  the  stress. 

If  Clemence  had  only  come  with  her 
mother,  all  might  have  been  different;  but 
the  foolish  Irish  girl  had  alone  accompanied 
her  mistress,  and  dropped  early  in  the  evening 
the  comment  "  that  very  few  probably  would 
venture  out  on  such  a  night,  and  that  the  new 
dress  would  undoubtedly  be  ruined." 

People  who  go  to  their  first  party  after 
twenty  years  of  seclusion  require  discreet  and 
tactful  handling.  Mrs.  Lawton's  vacillating 
courage  sank.  When  the  skirt  was  half  over 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

her  emerging  head,  she  suddenly  lurched  out 
of  it  with  unusual  alertness. 

"Kate,  take  the  horrid  thing  away!  I 
should  look  like  a  fool  in  it !  I  simply  can't 
put  it  on.  Give  me  my  brown  satin!"  she 
said,  in  desperation. 

Kate,  frightened  at  her  own  influence,  en- 
tered now  a  feeble  protest,  murmuring  that 
"  Miss  Clem  would  be  very  angry,"  but  she 
knew  from  the  start  that  it  was  all  up  with 
the  violet  silk  and  white  lace  magnificence. 

When  Mrs.  Lawton  surveyed  herself  in  the 
high-necked,  long-sleeved  dark  gown,  only 
brightened  at  the  neck  by  a  few  diamonds, 
which  did  service  on  all  grand  occasions,  she 
felt  relieved  and  almost  consoled.  She  had 
pictured  herself  sitting  in  unblushing  effront- 
ery amid  a  bevy  of  wiser  dames,  who  would 
naturally,  on  this  frightful  night,  have  con- 
sulted the  dictates  of  wisdom  and  sobriety. 
Of  course  a  few  flighty  young  misses  would 
still  wear  their  white  frocks,  but  she  felt  sure 
the  older  married  women,  at  least,  would  be 
less  foolish.  Her  own  foolishness  will  appear 


152  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

incomprehensible  to  the  mondaine  who  slips 
into  the  nudity  of  her  ball  corsage  with  as 
much  ease  as  she  does  into  her  satin  shoe,  but 
Puritanically-bred  "  provincials"  of  modest  and 
retiring  dispositions  will  more  fully  understand. 

Mrs.  Lawton  felt  some  trepidation  at  ac- 
knowledging her  cowardice  to  her  husband. 
She  wished  to  explain  to  him  that  it  was  a 
sense  of  unfitness  and  not  economy  which  had 
prompted  her  to  the  change  of  toilet,  but, 
when  they  were  at  last  ensconced  in  the  car- 
riage, he  seemed  so  distrait  in  manner  that  she 
imagined  he  must  be  composing  an  oration, 
and  she  only  casually  mentioned  to  him  that 
she  had  donned  the  high-necked  gown. 

"  I  dare  say  it  will  look  very  nice,  but  what 
will  Clem  say  ?"  He  spoke  absently,  as  if  in 
a  dream,  and  she  could  only  hope  when  he 
saw  her  he  would  approve. 

He  was  in  a  fever  of  unrest  at  the  thought 
of  once  more  meeting  Constance.  She  had 
not  replied  to  his  letter,  and  there  had  been 
no  sign  between  them  since  that  evening 
when  he  had  so  completely  lost  himself.  He 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  153 

wondered  if  she  were  forever  offended,  and 
felt  that  now  when  she  saw  him  with  his  wife 
the  abyss  he  had  himself  put  between  them 
could  never  again  be  spanned.  The  impulses 
which  had  prompted  him  to  bring  Mrs.  Law- 
ton  were  too  complicated  for  analysis.  The 
reader  who  is  no  novice  in  the  intricacies 
of  human  motive  will  require  no  explanation, 
while  to  the  unimaginative  and  inexperienced 
even  the  inscriptions  on  guide-posts  are  indis- 
tinct. 

Probably  a  form  of  pride  which  is  akin  to 
humility  was  the  strongest  motor.  Almost 
immediately  after  they  entered  the  room,  Mrs. 
Langton  separated  them. 

"  Mr.  Fane  has  something  particular  to  ask 
you,"  she  whispered  in  Mr.  Lawton's  ear. 
"  Something  political,  I  think, — about  your 
party  organization  here."  Mrs.  Langton  liked 
to  be  considered  au  fait  about  everything. 
"He  is  looking  all  over  the  place  for  you. 
Go,  like  a  dear,  and  find  him,  and  I  will  take 
charge  of  your  wife." 

Mrs.  Lawton  had  indeed  hardly  time  to 


154  -A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

realise  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  old 
lady  in  an  ermine  tippet,  she  had  on  the  only 
high-necked  gown  in  the  rooms,  when  four  or 
five  men  were  introduced  to  her  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. Whether  it  was  an  overwhelming 
conviction  of  her  mistake  in  not  having  worn 
the  violet  silk,  or  a  natural  inaptitude  at  con- 
versation with  unknown  gentlemen,  certain  it 
is  that  she  found  herself  quite  unable  to  enter- 
tain them,  After  having  expressed  her  ad- 
miration of  the  really  brilliant  scene,  having 
commented  upon  its  animation,  upon  the 
warmth  of  the  atmosphere  inside  and  the  dis- 
malness  of  the  storm  outside,  she  had  nothing 
left  to  say  to  them.  She  noticed  that  by  and 
by  they  one  by  one  became  restive,  and  finally, 
in  the  increasing  rush  and  crush  .of  new  arri- 
vals, made  hurried  excuses  of  other  claims 
upon  them  and  gradually  fell  away  from  her. 
She  was  left  at  last  standing  quite  alone  in  a 
door-way,  rather  glad  to  be  rid  of  her  cava- 
liers, and  yet  hardly  knowing  where  to  place 
herself. 

She  espied  an  empty  chair  in  an  embrasure, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  155 

half  hidden  by  the  voluminous  skirts  of  two 
middle-aged  ladies,  resplendent  in  "  shimmer 
of  satin  and  glimmer  of  pearls,"  with  a  profu- 
sion of  vari-colored  feathers  upon  their  heads. 
They  were  women  at  the  very  least  ten  years 
older  than  herself.  They  looked  well  and 
fresh  enough,  however,  and  she  gazed  with 
wonder  at  their  bared  necks  and  rather  envied 
them  their  pluck.  One  was  in  pale  rose,  the 
other  in  a  deep  sapphire-colored  satin. 

There  was  no  doubt  of  it ;  she  herself  had 
made  a  fatal  blunder.  At  the  mere  idea  of 
telling  Clemence  she  grew  alarmed.  The 
child  would  be  so  disappointed.  She  had 
been  so  proud  of  that  other  gown.  Almost 
unobserved,  Mrs.  Lawton  managed  to  ensconce 
herself  behind  these  showy  dowagers.  Not 
being  accustomed  to  belledom,  or  to  any 
homage  from  men  except  such  as  was  prompted 
by  the  merest  friendliness,  she  felt  somewhat 
lonely,  to  be  sure,  but  not  mortified,  and,  on 
the  whole,  interested  and  rather  amused. 
Soon,  probably,  Mrs.  Langton  or  her  husband 
would  come  up. 


156  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

Her  neighbors  were  engaged  in  an  animated 
conversation.  They  spoke  in  an  audible  whis- 
per, and  indulged  now  and  then  in  low,  well- 
bred  laughter.  Sometimes  she  caught  the 
thread  of  their  disjointed  talk,  and  then  lost 
it  again  in  the  general  hum,  the  blare  of  the 
band,  and  the  tread  of  the  dancers  in  the  ad- 
joining ballroom.  When"  they,  however,  men- 
tioned Mr.  Lawton's  name,  she  would  have 
been  more  than  human  had  she  not  listened. 

"  Which  is  he  ?  I  was  away  when  he  was 
here.  Do  show  him  to  me !" 

"  There — over  there !  Don't  you  see !  He 
is  putting  his  hand  up  to  his  head;  leaning 
against  the  portiere.  The  man  with  the  gray 
hair." 

"  What,  that  young-looking  man  ?"  said  the 
first  speaker,  putting  up  a  long  gold  eye-glass. 
"  Why,  he  is  certainly  very  striking.  A  fine 
head." 

"  Do  you  think  he  looks  so  young  ?  He  is 
gray." 

"  I  should  say  from  forty  to  forty-five.  It 
is  a  splendid  face.  I  am  quite  surprised. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  157 

They  say  there  is  no  doubt  he  will  be  gov- 
ernor." 

"  Oh,  my  husband  is  such  a  partisan !  He 
of  course  believes  it,  thinks  that  he  is  a  very 
remarkable  man;  but  then  there  are  those 
who  doubt.  One  can  never  be  sure.  Each 
side  is  carried  away  by  its  own  party  hue  and 
cry." 

Mrs.  Lawton  listened  and  was  edified. 

"  These  men  whose  lives  are  full  of  serious 
interests  really  live  longer  and  look  younger 
than  the  idlers.  It  is  what  we  don't  do  that 
wears  upon  us.  So,  at  least,  I  tell  my  son, 
who  is,  I  regret  to  say,  a,  flaneur." 

"  Very  cleverly  put.     Has  he  a  family  ?"  . 

"  Who  ?  Mr.  Lawton  ?  I  think  there  is  a 
wife.  I  fancied  somebody  said  she  was  to  be 
here  to-night." 

"  I  don't  see  her  with  him." 

"I  wonder  what  Connie  Gresham  will  say?" 

"  Oh,  by  the  way !  yes,  I  hear  it  is  quite  a 
flirtation !" 

"  She  is  such  an  incorrigible  coquette.  I 
must  confess  I  think  the  young  married 
14 


158  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

women  are  carrying  that  sort  of  thing  too 
far." 

"Ah,  well!  Mrs.  Jack  is  very  attractive, 
and  men  will  burn  their  fingers." 

"  I  wonder  her  husband  allows  it." 

"  Oh,  my  dear,  it  is  the  fate  of  the  hus- 
bands of  pretty  women  to  be  a  little  neglected." 

"  Connie  is  certainly  fascinating  and  clever, 
and  the  house  is  admirably  ordered.  I  like 
her,  but  I  think  her  foolish  about  some  things. 

Now,  this  man "  Then  others  came  up, 

and  the  subject  changed. 

Mrs.  Lawton  too  came  out  of  her  window- 
seat.  She  wanted  air,  she  was  stifling.  She 
didn't  believe  what  she  had  heard,  not  a  word 
of  it.  Daniel  would  not  lend  himself  to  such 
a  thing.  It  was  impossible ;  he  was  above  it. 
Nevertheless,  as  she  pushed  through  the  crowd 
into  the  next  room,  her  limbs  were  trembling 
in  a  strange  fashion.  Here  she  found  the 
mothers  of  two  or  three  disconsolate  daughters 
huddled  together  in  a  corner.  She  sank  into 
a  seat  beside  them.  One,  who  seemed  com- 
municative, turned  to  her  amiably. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  159 

"  My  girl  is  so  timid,"  she  said.  "  I  cannot 
get  her  to  even  stand  up  and  show  herself." 

The  girl  in  question,  who  had  very  thin 
shoulder-blades,  jerked  them,  and  emitted  a 
little  groan. 

"  She  has  such  a  lovely  gown,"  said  the 
mother.  "It  is  so  silly  not  to  go  into  the  ball- 
room and  show  it  and  dance." 

"  I  might  stand  there  all  night  and  nobody 
ask  me,"  said  the  girl,  snappishly.  "Not  a 
soul,  and  you  know  it." 

"  Well,  it  is  all  your  fault.  Other  girls  get 
on  who  have  not  had  half  the  advantages." 

"  My  daughter  is  just  the  same,"  said  an- 
other mother,  sympathetically,  who  was  seated 
just  behind  a  young  lady  in  scarlet  tulle. 
"  She  is  too  particular.  Young  Bolton  asked 
her  for  the  cotillon,  but  she  refused  him 
flatly,  and  says  his  shoes  always  smell  of 
blacking.  It  is  perfectly  ridiculous,  I  tell  her. 
Debutantes  cannot  afford  to  put  on  airs." 

"  I  haven't  got  anybody  to  put  on  airs 
with,"  said  the  snappish  girl,  tartly.  "No 
one  ever  comes  near  me." 


160  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

"  You  are  too  modest,  my  dear,"  said  the 
second  mother,  secretly  enchanted  at  her  own 
daughter's  greater  success. 

Mrs.  Lawton  noticed  that  the  first  mother 
put  her  foot  out  under  the  cross  girl's  chair 
and  gave  her  a  little  kick.  The  dull  pain  she 
had  felt  was  passing  off  somewhat,  and  she 
was  thanking  God  that  her  Clemence  was  not 
here,  but  safely  at  home  and  asleep.  That 
was  some  comfort.  Happiness  and  fame  and 
honor  seemed  to  be  away  in  the  glittering 
pale-blue  distance  where  swinging  lamps  and 
fragrant  flowers  and  splendid  jewels  and  ra- 
diant women  were  moving  in  a  panorama  of 
warmth  and  light.  Here  were  congregated 
the  bitterness  of  discontent  and  failure. 

It  was  just  then  that  Mrs.  Gresham  crossed 
the  room  upon  her  husband's  arm. 

"  Why,  there  is  Mrs.  Jack  Gresham !  And 
Mr.  Gresham  is  with  her !" 

"  They  say  that  Mr.  Lawton,  who  is  running 
for  governor,  is  a  great  friend  of  hers." 

"  The  more  fool  he.  She  will  lead  him  a 
dance !" 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

• 

"  Is  it  for  the  dance,  I  wonder,  lie  has  put 

on  those  laveader  gloves,  that  are  a  mile  too 
large  for  him,  poor  thing  ?  I  saw  him  pass  a 
few  moments  ago." 

"  There   was   an   abominable    squib    about 

them  in  the  weekly ."     And  the  first 

mother  mentioned  the  paper  Daniel  Lawton 
had  read  with  such  anger. 

-  "  Oh,  pshaw !  Who  cares  ?  Not  Mrs.  Jack, 
I  am  sure.  All  she  thinks  of  is  her  own 
amusement.  She  won't  mind." 

"  She  is  just  perfectly  exquisite,"  exclaimed 
in  concert  the  girl  in  scarlet  and  the  snappish 
girl,  gazing  after  Mrs.  Gresham's  retiring 
form. 

"  The  gentlemen  certainly  admire  her,"  said 
the  mothers  in  unison,  but  without  heat. 

Then  the  first  mother  added,  "  Is  her  color 
her  own,  do  you  think  ?" 

May  Gerold  now  passed  through  on  the 
Turk's  arm ;  it  is  to  be  supposed  he  was  still 
in  the  "  first  stage."  She  had  taken  Mrs. 
Gresham's  advice  and  wore  black.  She 
looked  extremely  distinguished,  with  her 
i  ',  14* 


162  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

straight,  slim  figure,  her  pallor,  and  her  near- 
sighted eyes  under  their  black  brows. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Mrs.  Lawton  early  in  the  evening, 
conscious  of  his  shortcomings  and  at  the 
instigation  of  the  hostess,  who  was  still  de- 
tained at  the  door,  now  came  forward  and, 
offering  his  arm  gallantly,  asked  if  she  would 
like  to  see  the  dancing. 

She  remembered  that  she  took  it.  She 
talked  to  him  mechanically  on  various  topics. 
While  she  did  so  she  saw  her  husband  ap- 
proach Mrs.  Gresham,  look  at  and  speak  to 
her ;  and  then  she  knew.  Those  cruel  women 
need  not  have  enlightened  her.  There  are 
instincts  more  unerring  than  the  sense  of 
hearing.  She  saw  their  eyes  meet  and  mingle. 
She  had  never  seen  this  expression  in  her 
husband's  before.  All  the  truth  flashed  upon 
her  sick  soul. 

Dramatic  people,  who  express  more  than 
they  feel,  can  probably  form  no  conception 
of  what  emotion  means  to  slowly-stirred,  com- 
monplace, placid  natures.  The  latter  have  no 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  163 

eloquence  with  which  to  voice  their  woe  to- 
day, no  facile  pen  that  shall  dilate  on  it 
to-morrow.  Tongue  and  pen  will  be  alike 
unavailable,  but  the  agony  is  there  all  the 
same. 

It  is  commonly  said  that  a  jealous  woman 
can  do  no  justice  to  her  rival.  This  is  untrue. 
The  passions  have  quickened  perceptions  of 
their  own  which  are  more  generally  correct 
than  false,  and  their  illuminations  are  often 
clearer  in  such  minds  as  are  ordinarily  obtuse. 

Constance  was  dressed  with  great  simplicity, 
but  Mrs..  Lawton  did  not  make  the  mistake 
of  imagining  her  to  be  simple.  She  recog- 
nized at  once  that  her  repose  and  the  gra- 
ciousness  of  her  cold  smile  were  of  the  high- 
est art.  She  wore  soft  white  crepe  de  Chine, 
with  some  pearls  at  her  throat.  There  were 
lilies  of  the  valley  in  her  girdle  and  a  great 
loose  bunch  of  the  same  flowers  in  her  hand. 
Sometimes  her  arm  hung  by  her  side,  and 
sometimes  she  raised  the  bouquet  and  buried 
her  face  in  its  blossoms.  Mrs.  Lawton  noted 
too  that  her  color  was  genuine;  and  that, 


164  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

if  she  was  a  coquette  and  a  flirt,  she  was  also 
something  more ;  she  made  the  women  about 
her  look  tawdry,  loud,  and  overdressed. 

The  barn-yard  fowl  that  cackles  over  its 
brood  is  a  peaceful  bird  enough,  but  let  some 
common  enemy  hover  near,  and  with  ruffled 
wings  and  threatening  beak  and  talons  it  may 
become  a  dangerous  antagonist.  Pussy  lies 
before  the  hearth  and  licks  her  furry  paws, 
purring  and  calm  as  a  slumbering  infant,  yet, 
in  a  moment,  if  her  rival  Ponto  should  show 
his  face  at  the  drawing-room  door,  you  have 
the  tiger-cat,  fierce  and  furious,  with  glit- 
tering eyeball,  quivering  tail,  and  foaming 
mouth,  ready  to  spring.  Even  the  toothless 
old  lion  of  whose  docility  the  keeper  has 
boasted  will,  if  that  keeper  deprive  him  for 
but  one  hour  of  his  food,  turn  upon  him  in 
frenzy,  and  tear  and  mangle  and  suck  the 
blood  of  the  hand  it  fawned  upon.  The  wild 
beast  only  sleeps ;  it  can  still  get  up,  shake 
itself,  growl,  prowl,  kill. 

Mrs.  Lawton  saw  her  husband  approach 
Mrs.  Gresham.  She  saw  the  young  woman's 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  165 

nonchalant  manner  change  to  one  of  eager 
pleasure,  for  Constance  had  passed  through 
many  moods  since  we  left  her,  and  to-night 
they  had  all  culminated  in  an  intense  hunger 
to  see  him  again.  It  did  not  escape  Mrs. 
Lawton's  strained  attention  that  the  counte- 
nance which  had  been  so  indifferent  became 
almost  tender,  as  the  expression  of  one  across 
whose  smiling  flits  an  idea  of  pathos. 

She  also  noticed  that  Mrs.  Greshain's  pres- 
tige was  shared  by  the  man  beside  her,  and 
that  they  two  seemed  to  be  courted  and 
petted  in  an  atmosphere  of  equal  homage  by 
the  group  which  surrounded  them.  She 
glanced  down  at  herself,  and  felt  herself  to 
be  not  only  dingy  and  dowdy,  but  insignifi- 
cant, old,  and  hideous,  and,  with  a  sudden 
revelation  of  her  husband's  physical  attrac- 
tions, which  was  as  penetrating  as  a  desire 
of  the  senses,  she  became  the  prey  of  an 
acute  jealousy  of  his  beauty  as  well  as  of  her 
rival's.  She  hated  them  both.  So  in  this 
gentle  woman's  breast  awoke  the  savage  in- 
stinct— the  animal — with  its  appeal  to  her  sex 


166  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

and  to  her  vanity.  She  would  have  liked  to 
tear  the  pearls  from  Mrs.  Gresham's  throat, 
to  spit  at  and  strike  her,  to  trample  upon  her 
flowers,  to  insult  and  mar  her  loveliness. 

Her  reason  must  have  tottered  for  a  mo- 
ment, for  she  went  so  far  as  to  imagine  that 
they  were  speaking  of  her  together;  that 
Mrs.  Gresham  asked  who  she  was,  and  that 
her  husband  repudiated  her;  that  they  were 
ridiculing  her  together.  They  had,  in  fact, 
not  even  seen  her,  being  mutually  absorbed. 
Of  course,  in  a  saner  moment  she  would  have 
known  he  was  incapable  of  such  baseness. 
Her  sufferings  became  so  insupportable  that 
she  determined  to  end  them,  and,  suddenly 
turning,  asked  the  man  who  was  with  her 
for  a  glass  of  water.  The  instant  he  had  left 
her,  she  accosted  a  servant  who  was  passing 
with  a  tray  of  empty  glasses :  "I  am  feeling 
ill,"  she  said  to  him,  hurriedly;  "please  help 
me  to  my  carriage  ;  and  do  you  see  that  gen- 
tleman over  there  speaking  to  the  lady  in 
white  ?  In  about  fifteen  minutes, — mind  you, 
not  sooner, — tell  him  his  wife  went  home ; 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  167 

had  a  little  headache;  nothing  serious,  and 
he  must  on  no  account  hurry,  he  must  stay. 
Now,  promise  to  do  this  for  me,  and  come." 

The  servant,  an  old  man  with  stooping 
shoulders,  who  had  been  in  the  family  for 
years,  stared  at  her  with  his  sunken,  tired 
eyes.  "  Certainly,  ma'am,  certainly  !  I  will 
tell  the  gentleman.  Shall  I  call  Mrs.  Lang- 
ton  ?  Would  you  like  a  maid  ?" 

His  sympathetic  voice  and  kindly  manner 
so  unnerved  her  that  she  feared  she  could  not 
repress  the  tears,  but  she  made  a  superhuman 
effort. 

"  No,  nothing,  only  come !"  she  said,  so 
decidedly  that  he  deposited  his  tray  and  fol- 
lowed her. 

He  helped  her  into  her  fur  cloak  and  went 
out  to  tell  the  footman.  This  smart  English 
lackey  called  out  for  the  carriage,  which  Mrs. 
Lawton  had  prudently  ordered  very  early.  .  It 
was  one  from  a  livery-stable ;  respectable,  but 
not  elegant;  and  he  helped  the  modestly- 
attired  lone  person  into  it  with  civility,  but 
without  enthusiasm.  She  was  thankful  the 


168  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

drive  was  not  too  short ;  she  could  give  way  to 
her  despair. 

On  his  part,  Daniel  Lawjon's  evening  had 
not  been  without  incident,  for  he  had  at  last 
seen  .  .  .  the  husband,  and,  as  is  the  case  in 
real  life,  where  nothing  happens  but  the  un- 
expected, it  had  passed  without  complications 
of  any  sort.  Mrs.  Gresham  had  introduced 
the  rosy,  jovial,  round-faced  fellow  to  him, 
and  he  had  been  forced  to  admit  to  himself 
that  he  seemed  manly  and  frank.  In  fact, 
Jack  Gresham  had  few  enemies,  and  the  worst 
these  could  say  of  him  was  that  he  was  not 
overburdened  with  brains,  and  that  he  grew 
sometimes  a  trifle  heated  over  his  wine.  The 
two  men  had  shaken  hands  and  talked  for  a 
few  minutes  about  hunting.  He  had  heard 
him  address  her  as  "  Con,"  and  had  looked  in 
vain  in  her  eyes  for  an  expression  of  fear  or 
of  dislike.  Shall  I  add  that  she  had  even 
been  amicable  in  her  manner,  had  called  him 
"Jack,"  and  had  asked  him  to  bring  her  a 
cup  of  bouillon,  and  that  when  he  did  so  she 
nodded  her  thanks  to  him  pleasantly  ? 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

The  conviction  was  unwillingly  borne  in 
upon  Lawton,  who  studied  their  minutest 
actions  with  the  keenest  anxiety,  that  Mrs. 
Gresham  did  not  shrink  from  her  husband 
with  loathing,  and  that  their  relations,  what- 
ever they  might  be,  were  at  least  friendly.  It 
was  indeed  difficult  to  imagine  one's  self  de- 
testing Jack  Gresham,  he  was  so  very  good- 
natured.  Lawton,  himself,  to  his  immense 
regret,  found  it  impossible  to  do  so — not  yet, 
not  at  once,  at  least — well,  then — no  matter. 
Even  if  the  plane  were  a  lower  one,  one  hour 
of  life,  one  hour !  He  was  starving,  and  she 
was  here  beside  him!  The  pure  breath  of 
her  mouth  fanned  his  cheek,  the  touch  of  her 
hand  was  upon  his  arm.  Oh,  the  ecstasy 
of  it! 

And  Constance — for  women  are  proverbially 
indulgent  to  the  men  who  love  them — leaned 
to  him,  speaking  low,  sweet  words,  filled  with 
that  happiness  which  his  adoration  and  his 
presence  always  gave  her.  Probably  she  did 
not  even  notice  that  his  gloves  were  too  large 
for  him.  The  marked  improvement  in  the 

H  15 


170  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

matter  of  his  costume  of  late  she  had  accepted 
as  the  most  delicate  incense  of  flattery  to  her- 
self. She  had  reached  that  stage  of  sentiment 
where  such  discrepancies  as  might  still  exist 
struck  her  as  pathetic,  and,  as  such,  endearing. 
At  any  rate,  this  thing  had  been  "  different;" 
of  this  she  had  felt  sure  from  the  beginning. 
To  him  she  was  an  elixir  of  strong  wine,  re- 
newing, stimulating  to  the  utmost  every 
faculty  of  heart  and  brain,  rousing  him  to 
fresh  ambitions.  He  told  himself  this  was 
growth.  While  she  felt  with  him  like  a  tired 
chaser  of  shadows  who  grasps  at  last  the  real. 
There  was  something  broad  and  sweet  in  the 
man.  He  had  dwarfed  her  own  world. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  171 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  domestic  delivered  his  message  faith- 
fully: fidelity  was  his  strong  point.  He  did 
so  just  as  Lawton  was  about  to  seek  his  wife. 
He  was  too  upright  and  honorable  a  man  to 
bring  her  here,  a  stranger,  to  a  house  where 
he  felt  at  home,  and  to  wound  her  by  any  dis- 
respect or  neglect.  He  was,  as  I  say,  about  to 
look  for  her  and  present  to  her  some  of  his 
acquaintances.  He  had  even  thought  it  prob- 
able that  she  and  Mrs.  Gresham  would  meet, 
and,  although  not  enough  a  man  of  the  world 
to  face  this  ordeal  with  entire  composure,  he 
would  rather  have  died  than  seem  to  shun  it, 
and  had,  in  fact,  determined  to  let  things  take 
their  course. 

£Tow  for  an  instant  he  thought,  with  a 
qualm  of  conscience,  of  following  her,  but, 
man-like,  he  was  provoked  that  she  had  not 


172  -4  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

waited  for  him.  He  told  himself  that  her 
impatience  was  childish  in  the  extreme,  and 
the  more  he  thought  of  it  the  more  annoyed 
and  irritated  with  her  he  became.  How 
would  she  ever  meet  the  exigencies  of  her 
impending  position  if  she  were  so  easily 
haffled  by  her  first  social  effort  ? 

So,  when  Constance's  eyes  bade  him  stay, 
he  lingered.  Socrates  himself  must  have  had 
his  hours  of  recklessness.  When  he  reached 
his  rooms  two  hours  later  and  stopped  at  his 
wife's  door,  all  was  silent  and  dark.  He 
turned  the  handle  and  found  it  locked.  He 
therefore  concluded  she  was  asleep.  But  Mrs. 
Lawton  was  not  asleep.  After  he  had  gone 
to  his  bed  she  crept  up  noiselessly  and  leaned 
against  his  door.  She  listened  to  his  lightest 
movement,  to  his  breathing,  as  if  they  would 
betray  to  her  his  secrets.  It  is  a  great  shock 
to  find  the  heart  you  have  rested  on  in  peace 
filled  with  tumults  of  which  you  know  nothing. 

Lawton  had  never  been  a  demonstrative 
man,  and  Mrs.  Lawton,  albeit  loving,  was  of  a 
calm  temperament ; "  her  demands  upon  his 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  173 

affectionateness  had  at  no  times  been  great. 
Now,  standing  shivering  with  bare  feet  on  the 
cold  floor  of  her  dreary  hotel  room,  she  re- 
membered all  of  the  past,  and  marvelled  that 
she  had  been  so  easily  satisfied.  Lately  he 
had  been  even  less  warm  than  usual,  and  she, 
in  her  silly  security,  had  attributed  it  to  the 
cares  and  anxieties  of  his  campaign. 

She  had,  of  course,  known  that  the  world 
was  full  of  folly,  of  untruth,  and  of  sin,  but 
she  had  never  believed  that  these  things  could 
touch  herself.  She  read  of  them,  heard  of 
them  daily,  and  had  fancied  that  she  alone 
wore  a  magic  armor,  was  safe.  What  an 
idiot  she  had  been !  Now  she  felt  sure  that 
he  had  never  loved  her.  A  woman's  faith, 
which  has  burned  steadily  for  years,  will 
waver  at  a  breath.  A  man's,  once  accorded, 
is  with  difficulty  shaken.  She  thought  of 
Constance,  and  in  her  own  humility  asked 
herself  what  qualities  she  possessed  to  cope 
with  such  a  sorceress,  and  she  said  to  herself, 
"None."  She  had  been  engrossed  with  her 
household,  with  bringing  up  the  children,  and 
15* 


174  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

she  had  shared  none  of  her  husband's  pur- 
suits, none  of  his  literary  activities.  Even  his 
political  career  she  had  borne  with,  rather 
than  encouraged.  How  could  she  fill  the 
manifold  requirements  of  such  a  mind  as  his ! 
He  had  made  strides  and  left  her  behind.  All 
was  clear  to  her  now  as  the  day. 

As  she  stood  there  in  her  wretchedness  she 
longed  to  cry  out  to  him,  to  touch  his  hand, 
to  creep  into  his  arms  and  be  comforted ;  but 
the  anger  and  pride  of  her  offended  woman- 
hood rose  up  and  checked  her,  and  she  gave 
no  sign. 

When  he  met  her  the  next  morning,  he 
found  her  and  Kate  booted  and  spurred  and 
packed  for  an  early  boat.  She  murmured 
something  about  being  worried;  that  little 
Dan  had  a  cold,  and  that  she  had  decided  not 
to  remain  another  night.  She  bade  him  fare- 
well quite  cheerfully.  He  was  obliged  to  re- 
main until  the  evening,  to  be  present  at  an 
important  committee  meeting.  It  would  be 
one  of  the  last,  for  the  elections  were  drawing 
nigh. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  175 

A  week  later  the  great  day  had  arrived. 
The  incessant  rain  had  at  last  ceased.  The 
storm  seemed  to  have  blown  itself  out,  and 
the  wind-swept  valley  was  at  rest.  A  bright 
sunshine  shone  upon  the  scene,  and  lighted 
up  alike  the  banners  of  Marcus  M.  Curley, 
which  flaunted  in  the  fresh  north  wind  with 
an  impudent  assurance,  and  those  which 
waved  across  the  street  a  hideous  effigy  of 
Lawton's  fine  face.  Curley's  supporters  were 
loud  in  their  braggings,  as  people  are  who 
lead  a  forlorn  hope  and  are  really  wading 
knee-deep  in  despondency.  The  voting  was 
brisk,  and  the  streets  were  full  of  men. 
There  were  crowds  about  and  at  the  polls. 
They  said  it  would  be  one  of  the  largest  votes 
that  had  ever  been  cast ;  but  everything  was 
well-ordered  and  quiet.  Party  feeling  ran 
high,  but  there  was  no  disturbance.  The 
police,  who  patrolled  the  town,  were  on  the 
alert,  but  had  hardly  more  onerous  duties 
than  usual  to  fulfil.  A  few  warrants  had  been 
issued  to  the  deputy  marshals  for  the  arrest 
of  persons  accused  of  illegal  registration.  A 


176  A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

few  men  charged  with  "  impersonation"  were 
seized  at  the  instigation  of  the  inspectors  and 
held  for  future  examination. 

A  certain  number  of  jubilant  Irishmeii  who 
had  celebrated  the  day  early  by  copious  liba- 
tions, and  who  were  a  trifle  noisy,  were  col- 
lared and  hustled  off  to  the  station-houses. 
Among  the  vehement  supporters  of  the  two 
opponents  the  Independents  crept  about  sul- 
lenly, maintaining  as  to  their  own  intentions 
a  sphinx-like  reserve.  They  seemed  to  be 
coquetting  between  the  rival  factions,  who, 
in  their  turn,  felt  the  pulse  of  this  agitating 
minority  which  resists,  protests,  and  warns, 
caressing  and  making  them  overtures.  One 
could  never  know  until  the  ballots  were 
counted  how  an  extra  vote  or  two  might  turn 
the  scale. 

Lawton  remembered  after  his  mid-day  meal, 
of  which  he  partook  at  his  office,  that,  besides 
being  election-day,  this  Tuesday  was  one  of 
some  significance  in  his  private  annals.  It 
was  the  anniversary  of  his  engagement.  He 
had  forgotten  it  in  the  morning.  It  had  been 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  177 

their  wont — his  and  his  wife's — always  to  cel- 
ebrate, the  afternoon  with  a  tete-h-iete  drive  into 
the  country,  unless  indeed,  which  had  rarely 
happened,  business  or  illness  interfered.  He 
now  remembered  it  with  compunction.  He 
had  noticed  that  his  wife's  manner  was 
marked  in  its  coldness  since  the  fatal  ball,  but 
he  had  pretended  not  to  remark  the  change, 
as  people  do  who  live  in  fear  of  explanations 
and  their  consequences.  All  deceit  and  trick- 
ery were  hateful  to  him,  and  he  hoped  there 
was  nothing.  It  was  at  any  rate  safer  to 
ignore.  It  is  easier,  however,  to  say  "  what  is 
beyond  remedy  should  be  beyond  concern" 
than  to  put  this  sound  philosophy  into  execu- 
tion. 

To-day,  it  must  be  confessed,  he  rather 
dreaded  the  ttte-ci-tete,  but  it  was  not  in  his 
character  to  shrink  from  unpleasant  contin- 
gencies. He  reminded  himself  of  her  many 
virtues,  of  her  unselfishness,  of  her  devotion 
to  his  children ;  and  his  conscience  smote  him. 
He  would  not  appear  negligent.  He  tele- 
graphed to  her  that  she  must  not  forget  what 


178  A  SUCCESSFUL   MAN 

day  of  the  month  it  was ;  that  he  would  be 
out  at  three  to  drive  her  to  Harbor  Hill,  and 
begged  her  to  have  the  new  mare  put  into  the 
light  wagon.  In  an  hour  he  received  her 
answer.  It  was  short :  "  I  will  be  ready." 

At  a  few  minutes  past  three  they  started. 
He  found  his  hands  were  full  with  the  young 
horse,  and  for  the  first  half-hour  little  else- was 
spoken  of  between  them  except  of  her  merits 
and  demerits,  her  possibilities  and  peculiari- 
ties. She  seemed  somewhat  skittish,  and 
chafed  on  the  bit,  but  Lawton  was  an  experi- 
enced driver,  having  learned  in  his  boyhood  to 
break  in  colts  on  his  father's  farm,  and  man- 
aged her  admirably.  His  wife  had  implicit 
confidence  in  his  skill,  and  was  not  by  nature 
timorous.  They  then  spoke  of  the  elections, 
and  he  expressed  himself  as  glad  to  escape  for 
a  couple  of  hours  from  the  heated  excitement 
of  the  town  and  the  importunities  of  ofiicious 
friends  into  the  freshness  of  the  quiet  fields. 

The  raindrops  still  fell  from  the  trees  above 
them,  and  the  mud  flew  up  high  under  the 
wheels.  When  they  reached  Harbor  Hill, 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  179 

these  topics,  however,  were  exhausted,  and 
there .  arose  a  certain  chill  and  embarrassment 
between  them.  Wedged  so  closely  into  the 
narrow  wagon,  bound  together  so  mightily  by 
the  ties  of  custom,  by  years  of  mutual  in- 
terests and  mutual  sacrifices,  these  two  people 
felt  themselves  in  that  moment  immeasurably 
far  apart.  They  sat  shoulder  to  shoulder,  now 
and  then  pushed  up  together  by  the  jolts  of 
the  springs  on  the  uneven  road ;  yet  they  were 
ill  at  ease,  and  would  have  given  worlds  if 
they  might  have  done  with  this  drive,  which 
was  such  a  mockery,  and  be  once  more 
asunder.  But  Mrs.  Lawton  had  come  with  a 
purpose,  and  that  purpose  was  to  be  accom- 
plished. She  tried  two  or  three  times  to  say 
what  she  had  come  to  say,  but  her  mouth  was 
so  dry  she  could  not  speak.  At  last  she  did 
muster  up  sufficient  courage. 

"  Dan,"  she  said,  "  Dan,  I  want  to  speak  to 
you." 

"  Yes,  my  dear  ?"  touching  the  mare's  neck 
gently  with  the  whip,  but  somehow  his  heart 
stood  still. 


180  A  SUCCESSFUL   MAN 

"  When  I  left  that  party  the  other  night,  it 
was  not  the  headache  that  drove  me  away ;  it 
was  the  heartache,  Daniel." 

There  was  something  so  solemn  in  her  tone 
that  he  found  no  word  to  say  to  her. 

"  Listen,"  she  continued,  "  and  I  will  tell 
you  all.  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  heard.  It 
is  useless.  Those  fashionable  folks  have 
tongues  in  their  heads  that  are  as  bitter  as  the 
adder's.  No  matter  what  I  heard,  though 
they  talked  of  you,  Daniel, — and — and  of  that 
woman,  till  I  felt  I  ought  to  scream  out  to  you 
and  force  you  to  listen  to  me  and  be  warned ! 
No, — it  was  not  that !  I  am  no  gossip  myself, 
and  I  don't  lay  too  much  stress  on  what  tattlers 
say.  No ;  but  I  saw  you  go  up  to  her,  and  I 
saw  you  look  at  her  as  you  never  looked  at 
me,  and  I  seemed  to — to — to  have — lost  you !" 

She  gasped  for  breath,  and  he  remained 
speechless. 

"  I  understand  now  perfectly,  Daniel,  that  I 
have  been  a  fool ;  I  have  been  too  busy  over 
the  house  and  the  children.  When  I  saw 
those  women,  I  felt  I  was  nothing.  I  have 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

neglected  myself.  I  cannot  talk,  and  I  cannot 
even  dress.  "When  I  thought  of  all  that  would 
be  expected  of  me  now  that  you  will  have  such 
a  big  place,  I  felt  like  running  and  hiding,  or 
asking  you  to  let  me  go  back  to  ma,  for — for — 
for  you  never  have  loved  me,  Dan,  I  am  sure  of 
it !  And,  do  you  know,  when  you  hung  over 
her  I  knew  how  it  was.  I  hated  her,  I  hated 
you !  I  felt  outraged,  but  I  saw  her  power !  I 
do  not  think  you  have  been  wicked — are  those 
women  up  to  that  ?"  she  asked,  with  strange 
astuteness.  "Don't  they -care  too  much  for 
themselves  ?  But  if  I  tell  you  what  I  thought, 
will  you  forgive  me,  Dan?  I  thought  she 
asked  you  who  I  was,  and  that  you  said  you 
did  not  know;  that  you  laughed  at  me  to- 
gether! Daniel!  Daniel!"  and  she  clutched 
at  his  knee  with  one  of  her  hands  convul- 
sively, "  say  it  was  not  true !  say  it  was  not 
true !  You  would  not  deny  your  little  Dan's 
mother !" 

In  her  agitation  she  had  grown  half-wild 
again,  and  her  eyes  fixed  his  with  an  anguish 
of  questioning. 

16 


182  ^  SUCCESSFUL  MAN 

Then  something  in  the  man's  being  gave 
way.  His  head  fell  forward  on  his  breast, 
and  he  broke  forth  into  violent  tears  and 
sobbings. 

Her  own  tears  flowed  freely  now  at  the 
sight  of  his  unwonted  emotion,  and  they  fell 
upon  her  hands  like  a  healing  balm,  for  at 
least  he  was  not  of  stone.  At  the  sight  of 
her  pain  he  too  suffered. 

There  was  another  witness  of  this  scene,  to 
whom,  if  incomprehensible,  it  gave  greater 
freedom.  As  Lawton  raised  one  powerful 
hand  to  his  face  to  wipe  away  the  great  drops 
which  trickled  through  his  fingers,  the  mare 
trembled,  feeling  the  joy  of  the  slackened 
rein.  It  is  impossible  for  the  chronicler  to 
know  why  or  at  what  she  took  fright.  Some 
workmen  were  blasting  rocks  in  a  neighboring 
quarry.  An  explosion  a  little  louder  than  the 
preceding  ones  was  the  first  signal.  In  a 
moment  Lawton  was  erect,  with  the  reins 
tightly  rolled  about  his  wrists,  his  feet  braced 
firmly  against  the  dash-board.  An  instant 
later  he  cried  to  his  wife, — 


A  SUCCESSFUL  MAN  183 

"  Throw  yourself  out !  I  cannot  hold  her !" 
and  they  were  hurling  towards  the  cliffs. 

Harbor  Hill  on  its  inward  slope  was  a  gentle 
declivity  of  grassy  meadow,  the  land  dropping 
to  the  valley.  On  the  sea  it  was  a  high  steep 
cliff  of  sand  and  loose  boulders. 

As  the  mare  made  for  and  neared  the  preci- 
pice, Lawton  repeated  his  command  to  his 
wife  to  cast  herself  to  the  ground,  but  she 
hesitated. 

A  few  yards  from  the  edge  he  tried,  with 
frantic  energy,  to  turn  the  mare's  head.  The 
wagon  swerved  round  with  a  jerk  under  them, 
and  he  felt  the  back  wheels  sink. 

The  soil,  undermined  by  the  recent  floods, 
had  given  way.  The  mare  herself  seemed 
to  know  that  her  last  hour  had  come.  As 
the  earth  caved  in  under  her  hind  legs,  she 
snorted  with  agony,  and  her  eyeballs  shot 
forth  flame. 

Mrs.  Lawton  had  just  time  to  throw  herself 
across  her  husband's  breast,  and  so,  clinging 
closer  to  each  other  than  ever  they  had  done 
in  the  first  pure  transports  of  their  boy  and 


184  A  SUCCESSFUL   MAN 

girl  affection,  they  were  swept  down  together 
into  the  eternal  silence. 

An  hour  later,  in  the  neighboring  towns 
and  on  the  highways,  the  newsboys  were 
running  about  shouting  out  their  "Extras" 
announcing  to  the  world  that  Daniel  Lawton 
was  elected  governor  of  the  State  by  an  over- 
whelming majority. 

Through  the  still  evening  air  Constance, 
leaning  at  her  window,  heard  their  distant 
cries. 


THE   END. 


PRINTED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


w 


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"0  THOU,  MI  AUSTRIA  f 


TRANSLATED   BY 

MRS.  A.  JL,.  WISTER, 

From  the  German  of  OSSIP  SCHUBIN,  author  of 
"Erlach  Court,"  etc. 


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LllTINCOTT'S  MAGAZINE. 

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THOMAS 


THE  ASHBURTON  EDITION. 

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LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF 

CHARLOTTE   BRONTE. 


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A  MAGNIFICENT  AND  UNRIVALLED  WORK. 

"  AN  INEXHAUSTIBLE  MINE  OF  KNOWLEDGE." 


A  NEW  VARIORUM  EDITION 

SHAKESPEARE. 

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folio  and  quarto,  and  of  the  majority  of  modern  critical  editions. 

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editors  whose  texts  are  collated,  together  with  other  notes,  emendations,  con- 
jectures, and  comments. 

Thirdly. — In  an  appendix  will  be  found  reprints  of  the  early  quartos ;  also 
criticisms  and  illustrations. 

VOLUME   VIII. 

AS  YOU  LIKE  IT.          • 

"  Notwithstanding  the  rich  harvest  arising  from  the  constant  activity  of 
Shakespearian  students  all  over  the  world,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
Howard  Furness's  Variorum  Edition  is  one  of  the  most  notable  contributions 
to  Shakespeare  literature  in  the  present  century.  The  text  is  that  of  the  First 
Folio,  but  the  various  readings  of  the  other  editions  are  carefully  stated.  Kach 
passage  is  annotated  so  that  the  reader  has  the  benefit  of  the  counsel  of  com- 
mentators old  and  new.  Further  illustrative  matter  is  consigned  to  the  appen- 
dix."— Manchester  (Eng.)  Guardian. 


The  other  volumes  of  this  Edition  already  published  are  : 

THE  MERCHANT   OF  VENICE,        OTHELLO, 

ROMEO   AND   JULIET, 
HAMLET  (2  vols.),     MACBETH,      KING   LEAR. 

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